Dedicated
by KageFuego4
Summary: All Shikamaru ever wanted in life was be average. Everyone else seems to think differently. Exactly how much can a single man do for his country before he breaks? Relatively AU. Shikamaru Centric. The series is too far ahead for there to be any spoilers in here. - Undergoing Massive Re-Write. Fic will be completely redone in another fic, titled "Depth". My apologies to any readers.
1. Jounin

"Maan, why do we have to go this far into the clan grounds, just to teach me a new technique, dad?" Shikamaru Nara grumbled to his father as the two of them slowly made their way deeper into the Nara forest.

"You're seventeen years old now son, it's about time I told you about the scroll of forbidden Jutsu, so that you know why the scroll was considered forbidden in the first place" his father replied, not once breaking stride. "Oh, as for why so deep into the forest, I'm sure you can guess why, now" he added.

"Seems a little paranoid to me" Shikamaru shrugged "who would know - let alone, want - to eavesdrop on us?" he reasoned.

Sighing, the tired father answered "When matters of the clan are involved, caution and discretion will always be necessary, you know this" he admonished.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it" Shikamaru sighed, scratching the back of his head in irritation. "I just wish we didn't have to go quite so far in, it's too troublesome" he grumbled.

"That's fine, we're here anyway" Shikaku announced as they came into a clearing nestled deep within the thick trees of their forest.

"A privacy ward" Shikamaru glanced at his father, skepticism evident in his eyes "is this really that important?" he asked, watching the man perform a few seals, triggering a hazy green wave that suddenly surrounded the clearing before disappearing just as quickly.

Giving a satisfied nod at the success of his Jutsu, Shikaku sat down, cross legged, in the middle of the grassy clearing. "If you're done asking obvious questions now, come sit down" he ordered.

Never one to find a reason for not relaxing, Shikamaru quickly obliged, plopping down onto his back but still crossing his legs, staring up at the clouds, since the dense canopy of trees along the way prevented him from doing so earlier on '_is it possible to go through cloud withdrawal?_' he mused, smiling at the absurdity of such a thing.

"As I was saying" Shikaku began, interrupting his son's reverie. "As my heir, and thus an automatic candidate for head of Clan, you have to be told about the ways our Jutsu in particular have been applied by non-clan members" he stated.

"Head of clan, candidate? The responsibility isn't passed down from father to son?"

"Well, it always has been, but your cousin is vying for the position now, claiming that you won't be suitable for the job" the man responded, laying down as well, using his arms as a cushion for his head while he too gazed at the clouds.

"Man" Shikamaru articulated. "That sucks. How will the head be decided now?" he queried.

"Physical prowess, Jutsu mastery and then a poll" the older Nara answered.

"Well, don't you have all three of those?" the teen hazarded.

"Of course I do" Shikaku scoffed. "The one being questioned is you" the father sighed.

"Oh, yeah."

"My sentiments exactly" the patriarch agreed.

"So that's why we're really here then, to brush up on my Jutsu?" Shikamaru guessed.

"Pretty much."

"What's this about forbidden scrolls, you were going on about then?"

"Ah yes, the first Jutsu I'll be teaching you, even though you aren't a jounin…. Yet" Shikaku stated, rising to his feet.

Reluctantly getting up as well Shikamaru glanced at his dad, perplexed "That doesn't answ-" but was interrupted by the appearance of two clones poofing into existence beside his father. "Are those, shadow clones?" he asked.

Nodding in confirmation, Shikaku responded "Yep, does the name make sense now?"

"It does, actually" Shikamaru agreed. "So why is the move forbidden, if so many people use it anyway?" he asked.

"There're two reasons, really" Shikaku stated. "First, is the fact that it's an offshoot of our clan's own shadow clone Jutsu. Second, is the fact that overuse of the Jutsu, such as making too many clones, has proven to be fatal in the case of even the most experienced shinobi" he explained. "As such, that particular forbidden Jutsu scroll contains the altered clan Jutsu that were too dangerous in the hands of the majority of our ninja" he concluded, shaking his head.

"That does make sense though, no point teaching suicide Jutsus" Shikamaru understood. "How is our shadow clone Jutsu different, compared to the one Naruto can pretty much use at will?" he asked.

"Concept and formation"

"That's it?"

"Pretty much, a Nara should be able to perform the technique much easier than any other shinobi, in theory" Shikaku added, shrugging, as his two clones decided to lie down in the grass, one chewing on a stalk of grass while the other turned on its side, possibly dozing off.

Not too impressed with the clones, Shikamaru looked at his father, once again skeptical about the Jutsu itself. "What's wrong with just using the Jutsu I know now?" he pleaded.

The clone with the grass stalk in its mouth replied "because you're weak, boy."

The one on its side also answered "the more versatile your arsenal, the likelier you are to survive" as his father merely nodded in agreement, before adding his own comment.

"Besides, this fixation on explosive tags can't be healthy" he grinned. "The updated bingo book actually has a caution stating "be wary of explosive weaponry" in it" then started laughing.

"Hey, they're versatile ninja tools" he defended, irked at having his preferred weapons ridiculed.

"Yes, I know, I know" his assured "you've used them to complete quite a few missions" he added. "How've Asuma's knives been treating you?"

"Better than expected, actually" he supplied, then grumbled "but I'm going to need more taiJutsu training if I ever plan on using them effectively…. How troublesome" he moaned.

"What a coincidence!" Shikaku mock exclaimed. "After you learn this Jutsu, the next one will require improving your chakra reserves and stamina. Guess how we'll be doing that" he hinted, smirking deviously.

"Sometimes, I hate you."

"I love you too, son" he retorted. "Now, let's begin!"

* * *

"I think he's trying to kill me!" Shikamaru groaned to his best friend - hours after training with his father - atop their preferred hill as he sat down to lean against the solitary oak tree, sighing in relief at easing the pressure off of his overworked body.

"I feel your pain, sort of" Chouji consoled, sitting beside Shikamaru after munching away at another apple from the basket he brought with him. "But, I guess he really wants you to be clan head or something" he offered, finishing his apple and producing another one from the basket.

"He does" Shikamaru conceded. "But I also think it's because he doesn't approve of whoever it is that's trying to be clan head now."

"He said it was one of your cousins. Are there any of them that he doesn't get along with?" Chouji suggested.

"I wish it were that simple" the Nara sighed "there aren't that many clansmen just openly opposing my dad" paused "there are barely any clansmen that don't agree with my dad period." An argument suddenly came to mind. "Other than…. Shit" he trailed off, worrying his friend.

"Figured something out?" Chouji asked, concerned.

"It's…. I forgot his name. Too troublesome" he sighed, shuddering "But he's strong, really strong" he emphasized.

"Please, how tough could he be?" his large friend asked.

"He can shape the 'Shadow sewing' into a katana and hold it" he stressed.

"So?"

"He made it sharp enough to cut actual swords in hal-" realization struck him "Shikabatsu!" he declared.

"Who?"

"My older cousin, I think he may have graduated a year or two before team Gai's."

"Why have we never seen him?" Chouji asked, eating a fourth apple - as evidenced by the three apple cores beside him - and now intrigued.

"We don't get along too well…. I guess" he shrugged.

"…."

"What?"

"You don't get along well." Chouji echoed. "What sort of excuse is that?"

Another shrug from Shikamaru "He just doesn't seem to like me all that much" he sighed.

"And why not?" Chouji demanded, wondering how his friend could make one of his own family members an enemy. "What did you do?"

"That's just it!" Shikamaru exclaimed "he's mad that I made it to chunin by accident, on my first attempt" then muttered "he acts just like Neji and Temari with their stupid superiority complexes."

"Well, that explains why he wants to be the clan head" Chouji concluded, nodding to himself.

"Hmm, how so, Cho?"

"Well" he started, finishing his sixth apple, and adopting a wise expression "the ultimate way to prove that he's better than you, and everyone else is by becoming their leader, right?" he prompted.

"That seems rather…. Petty."

"And that's why Mr. Nara doesn't like him" Chouji surmised.

"Well then" Shikamaru took an apple from Chouji's basket "that little mystery has been solved" he took a bite "now for some relaxing" he sighed, pleased, as the two of them looked up towards the sky full of clouds "Thanks Cho."

"No prob, friends help each other out, right?" Couji grinned.

* * *

"Come on son, you've got to be faster than this!" Shikaku's second clone teased as it peppered the poor boy with a barrage of fists.

Shikamaru could only defend and dodge against the relentless clone's assault '_and this is only a fifth of the old man's strength_' he inwardly groaned. Finally managing to get some distance from the clone, he performed the necessary hand seals, bringing three Shikamaru shadow clones into existence, each with an annoyed expression on their face and a simultaneous "Troublesome" before the original slumped to the ground, his chakra exhausted.

"Your taiJutsu is terrible and you still have to increase your chakra reserves" the real Shikaku offered from his perch in a tree at the edge of their clearing. "I don't even think you'll manage to take having your clones dispel" he guessed.

"Just gimme a minute" he gasped, struggling back to his feet.

"Your opponents won't give you a minute when every second is life or death" the Shikaku clone that had been mercilessly beating him around stated, disappearing in a swirl of leaves and body flickered into the midst of the Shikamaru clones, dispatching all three before they could react in time. "You are weak, as such, your clones are even weaker" it remarked.

Still panting, the young Nara sat down in defeat. "You win again, now let's call it a day" he groaned.

"Good idea, wouldn't want your mother on our backs for being late to lunch, again" the real Shikaku agreed, appearing in front of his son, an arm outstretched to help him up as his own clone disappeared.

Grunting at the effort needed to move, Shikamaru grasped his father's arm, allowing himself to be pulled up effortlessly, to his slight chagrin, '_He didn't even have to do the fighting, just let his weak clones beat up on me, and it was pretty fast too_' he reflected. "Hey, dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you get me to be that fast?" he asked.

"That's what we're doing right now, haven't you noticed?" the older Nara retorted.

"No, not really"

"We've only been going at this for a week…." Shikaku began.

"Yeah, and?"

"You can already create two clones in nearly an instant, when you could barely make one when we started last week, let alone touch one of my clones with taiJutsu, but you managed to take one of them out on your own today" he listed off.

"Yeah" he agreed "but that's all I've manag-"

"It's been a week, son" Shikaku cut him off. "You've not only learned a new Jutsu, you've also almost doubled your basic speed and taiJutsu skills" then added "although your taiJutsu was pretty miserable in the first place."

"Oh. Thanks, I think" Shikamaru said, unsure if he should focus on the insult or the compliment.

The two of them continued their walk home in silence. A father, proud of his son's progress. A son, trying not to beam -too much- at his father's praise.

* * *

"My god Chouji, I really needed this" Shikamaru sighed, as he and his friend lay down at their usual spot underneath the lonely oak atop a hill.

"Everyone needs time to relax" Chouji quoted the Nara, once again enjoying a basket of apples with his friend. "The two day break was a nice touch though."

"Yeah, dad being the village's head strategist is a lot more important than I thought." Shikamaru considered. "But now I just have to hope I don't get any missions, or at least not one that's too troublesome" he groaned, a potential threat to his peace always on the horizon.

Chouji simply nodded his head in understanding, his training with his own father having been a tiring experience as well. He spotted something in the distance, a green and orange smudge heading towards them at an alarming speed. No, wait, they were two separate blurs, people perhaps? Green and orange, who could they be? He recognized them with a snort, knowing what was in store. "Shikamaru" is all he said to warn his friend.

"I sensed them and they've already spotted us" he acknowledged, sitting up. "This is gonna be troublesome."

"Yeah, it is" Chouji confirmed, finishing an apple as Lee and Naruto completed their race in front of the two.

"Victory is mine, my friend!" an ecstatic Less declared, striking a thumbs up pose with a flash of teeth, the trademark green bodysuit and chuunin jacket managing to reflect the light -painfully- into the eyes of the two previously relaxed ninja.

"Damnit, I was so close this time too…. Were you wearing your weights?" a heavily breathing Naruto asked as he tried to calm himself down.

"Why of course!" Lee asked, perplexed at the thought of not wearing them "Every day is simply more time to be spent training and spreading the power of our YOUTH to others!" he chirped, fire burning in his eyes.

"…. A simple 'yes' would've been more than enough" Chouji answered for the three of them that had to endure that eardrum bursting declaration. Shikamaru and Naruto nodded in agreement, rubbing their ears.

Seeing a chance to escape, the Nara stood and began walking away "Well, I'll see you two later, come on Cho, we've gotta go do that…. Thing…. That guy told us to do" he said, prompting to his friend to play along "Remember?" he winked.

"Oh yeah!" Chouji exclaimed, rising to his feet "that…. Thing…. At the place…. With the stuff, I forgot" he tried, poorly covering their escape.

Neither of the two got very far, before the two exuberant ninja remembered why they came to the hill in the first place.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted. "Get back here, you lazy bums!" and raced in front of the two attempting their leisurely escape. Lee was not far behind.

"Wait up, my crafty comrades!" he yelled exuberantly. "How can we have a two on two training session without you?" he called.

'_How troublesome. They remembered…._' Shikamaru thought to himself. "What training session?" he hazarded, a last ditch attempt to skip out on the oncoming trouble.

"The team spar, remember at the barbeque two weeks ago? You said that speed wasn't all that great when you need to defend something, me and Lee disagreed, then you and Chouji said that the two of you would beat us if there was a situation where we need to protect something or the other, so we challenged you to a capture the flag scenario" Shikamaru and Chouji began sweating, hoping Naruto wouldn't remember the rest of that day. "Oh, and then we made a bet, saying that the winning team would have to pay for next month's group barbeque" he finished with a smile.

"Yes! And now is the time for that fateful battle!... But first, some rules must be set" Lee finished.

"Such as….?" Shikamaru trailed off, fearing the spar would not allow any of his -various types of- tags and scrolls.

"Well, a straight up taiJutsu fight is what we were thinking" Naruto shrugged. "Is that alright?"

"It most certainly is not!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "There has to be at least some form of ninja tool allowed" he reasoned. Maybe one type of Jutsu or one type of tool allowed."

"That's alright with me" Chouji agreed. "We probably shouldn't be allowed to use our clan Jutsu or signature moves though" he added.

"But, what about me?" Lee cried.

"You're fine, Lee. Use some numchucks or something and call it a day" the hyperactive blonde offered.

"A splendid idea!" Lee's spirits had returned.

"So, no shadows, clones, expansions, boulders or rasengans, to name a few?" Shikamaru counted off on his fingers.

They all agreed on these restrictions.

"Well then, what'll we each be using?" Chouji began, producing a pen and piece of paper.

"Practice tags: wind model" Shikamaru called.

"Summoning" Naruto stated smugly.

"The glorious nunchaku!" Lee claimed.

"And I think I'll be going with a bo staff" Chouji shrugged, writing all of this down.

"Hey, what's the paper for?" Naruto asked, interested.

"Contract. Never know what you three might try to pull" Chouji answered bluntly.

"Hey! Why am I included too?" Shikamaru grumbled.

"You and Naruto have to be watched over the most, crafty bastards" he grinned.

"This is but a test of my trustworthiness!" Lee declared. "I will gladly sign, to prove my good intentions!"

"If bushy brows over here has no problem with it, then I'll sign too!" Naruto said, pointing to himself with his thumb, a grin plastered to his face.

"You two act as if you had a choice" Shikamaru replied, signing the contract along with Chouji. "Why don't the two of you just hurry up and put your signatures down?" he suggested, boredom coating his words.

Chuckling sheepishly, the other two signed as well.

"More importantly, we have to decide what the terms for winning or losing the match are."

"We could do the usual, hide the flag for a set amount of time as one team defends it & the other tries to get it, then reverse, with the previously defending team being on the offense & vice versa" Shikamaru recommended.

The four of them agreed.

"What's the time limit?" Chouji asked. "How does half an hour sound?"

"Fine by me" Naruto agreed.

"I see no problem with it!" Lee offered.

"Oh man, why so long?" Shikamaru groaned. "But I guess it'll do" he conceded, seeing the rather frustrated faces of the others.

"Now for the rules!" Lee declared, doing a few quick kicks to emphasize his excitement.

"Well obviously, we can only use the tools or skills we chose earlier."

"TaiJutsu is perfectly fine for everyone!"

"We can use as much or as many of the weapon-

"Or Jutsu."

"Yes, or Jutsu, we chose, as we want."

"The round of the match is over when either the time limit is up, or the "flag" is found."

"Alright!" Naruto whooped, imitating a shadow boxer. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"Have you forgotten already, Naruto?" Lee scolded. "We shall need a witness, in order to make the contract official and also to serve as judge for us" he continued "I suggest my most splendid rival, Neji!" he said, raising his hand.

"That's a good idea" Shikamaru agreed. "He's a jounin-"

"It's not like he goes out of his way to remind everyone, constantly" Naruto added.

"True" Shikamaru sighed. "Anyway, since he's a jounin, with him overseeing our little bet, the whole thing will be official and we can get this over with."

"Provided, Neji agrees" Chouji included.

"Of course Neji would be fine with supervising our skirmish!" Lee argued.

"Why wouldn't he agree?" Naruto shrugged. "He'd love to watch the four of us hand our asses to each other, especially me and Shikamaru" he grouched.

"This is true" Chouji conceded. "Should we try and get others to watch too, then?" he asked.

"No!" Shikamaru shrieked, startling his three companions. "I mean" he calmed himself down "the less people that know about this, the better" he explained, not managing to convince anyone.

"I don't believe that, the more the merrier!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'd love for there to be a whole crowd to watch me wipe the floor -well, forest I suppose- with the two of you."

"Hey!" Chouji took offense. "I could send you flying in one blow" he threatened. Then added "with my pinky!" for good measure.

"Yes! Our youthful fires will burn brightly during battle!"

"This is way too troublesome."

* * *

In the end, Neji had agreed to referee their mock encounter. Provided, he was allowed to make a few specifications to the rules "a proctor is allowed to do such things, no?" was his only explanation.

Lee agreed wholeheartedly, stating that the best challenge of one's skill were always unexpected, while the other three had to grudgingly agree. Shikamaru, complained about having to do so much work on what was supposed to be a vacation for him, when a bird masked anbu messenger arrived on the grounds - interrupting Shikamaru mid rant - as - it looked like a she - they asked for the Nara prodigy.

* * *

*Sigh* "How troublesome" Shikamaru remarked to the anbu. "What does the Hokage need me for?" he asked. "Can I get a rain check, I'm a little busy here, you see" he indicated - with a nod of his head - at the four of his friends lounging outside in the expansive backyard of the Hyuuga compound, around the training field doing nothing, in all honesty.

Unfazed, the anbu replied "You have been requested by a fellow shinobi, in regards to accompanying her on a mission" waited a moment for the message to sink in, then finished with "you have the option to decline."

A pause

"Troublesome."

"A girl 'requested' Shikamaru?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"What's her name?" Neji inquired, doubtful.

"Shikamaru has a choice?" Chouji coughed.

"The springtime of youth is upon us once more, go get her Shikamaru!" Lee cried.

"This won't end well" Shikamaru sighed, getting up to follow the anbu "but, I'll see you bums later" he waved to the guys. Nodding to the anbu, he commanded "lead the way."

"To the Hokage Tower" the anbu supplied, "let us make haste" before the two of them nimbly leapt to the rooftops and swiftly towards their destination.

"Tell dad I said 'wassup'" Naruto called, as the four of waved their friend off.

* * *

In ten short minutes, the two arrived outside of the Hokage's office. The anbu knocked, waited for a moment, then announced "Hokage Sama, I have brought Shikamaru Nara."

"Thank you sparrow, send him in and you are dismissed" Minato's voice responded through the doors.

The anbu -sparrow- gave Shikamaru what he assumed was a pointed look, to which he nodded. Sparrow bowed and then left as suddenly as she arrived. He opened the doors and walked in, closing them behind him. Glancing around, he was shocked to find Hinata standing in front of the desk, resolutely staring her pleased Hokage in the face.

Figuring he may as well get things out of the way, Shikamaru cleared his throat in an attempt to pull the other two out of their battle of wills, to no avail as Hinata continued to try and stare the man down. He tried a different approach, "you wanted to see me, Hokage Sama? Also, Naruto says 'wassup'." At the mention of Naruto, Minato's smirk turned into a goofy grin '_Shouldn't be surprised, that's who Naruto gets it from'_ Shikamaru mused as Hinata whirled around, searching for Naruto.

Feeling silly for falling prey to such a simple trick, Hinata stared at the ground, trying to fight down the blush coloring her face.

"Ah, Shikamaru" Minato greeted him, "we were just talking about you, and wondered if you could give us your opinion on something" he asked jovially. Hinata - her blush having disappeared - suddenly stood to attention, not looking at the Hokage or Shikamaru.

"Sure, I'll help however I can" Shikamaru offered, slightly concerned with Hinata's behavior.

"Perfect!" Minato chirped, clapping his hands together. "In your exp-" he paused, contemplating something before giving a nod to himself. "Ah yes, before I get ahead of myself, Congrats. You have now joined the happy ranks of our Special Jounin."

Dumbfounded, Shikamaru managed to get out a strained "Th-thanks sir, I don't-"

"Yeah, yeah, happy feelings and whatnot" the Hokage waved him off. "As I was saying, we needed someone of Jounin rank to embark on a mission with Hinata, she nominated you" he laughed.

"You…. thought I was a jounin, Hinata?" Shikamaru asked.

Blushing - from embarrassment this time - she answered "well, you've been on more A-ranked missions than the rest of our class and even Neji. So, well, I just assumed you were a jounin too" she reasoned, poking her fingers together.

"Well, that makes sense" Shikamaru conceded, shooting a half hearted glare at Minato "I have been getting harder missions than a Chuunin normally would" he grumbled to the girl.

"You sure have!" Minato cheerfully agreed. "Going on and on about your plans to go through life as an average shinobi, then complete the workload of your everyday jounin without much of a problem. So, the other jounin nominated you for promotion and professionally - as well as personally - I agree with them. Any problems with that?" he finished.

Sighing, Shikamaru resigned himself to his fate. "No, lord Hokage. What are the mission parameters?" he asked. "I assume it'll be a mission involving only myself and Hinata, and why is my input needed on this mission? There are plenty of other, more skilled, veteran shinobi better suited for the task" he rationalized.

"True" Minato nodded. "However, this is as much a test for you, as it is for Hinata. Your performance on this mission will be a deciding factor for some important things in the future" he stated, cryptically.

"Wonderful" Shikamaru grumbled. "Anyway, what are the mission parameters?" he asked again.

"The two of you will be conducting an assassination, but since he is just an ambassador, it'll only be A ranked" the Hokage stated, all business.

"Only A ranked? Joy" Shikamaru muttered sardonically, making Hinata giggle, before facing forward again.

Ignoring this, Minato addressed Shikamaru "you will be under Hinata's command, observing her mission performance, understood?"

"Yes, sir" Shikamaru straightened up and saluted for a second, before slouching once more.

"Here are the specifics" Minato handed a scroll to Hinata. "You have two weeks to complete this mission" he informed them. "Good luck, you are dismissed." They bowed to their Hokage and left.

* * *

After leaving the Hokage's office with Shikamaru in tow, the heiress narrowly avoided bumping into Itachi Uchiha, with his brother right behind him.

"Oh!" they both exclaimed.

"Sorry about that, Ms. Hyuuga" Itachi apologized wearily, covered in small scratches and partly singed.

"N-no problem Itachi, I should've been paying more attention" she apologized back.

"Ah, but if I had-"

Shikamaru and an equally disheveled Sasuke sighed. "Can we please stop with the guilt fest before it drags on any longer?" Sasuke groaned. The two ignored him, in favor of finishing up their apologies.

"Rough mission?" Shikamaru grinned, knowing they'd stand no chance interrupting those two when they began to really get apologetic.

"I've been to hell and back, returning with a newfound appreciation for your lazy bastard lifestyle" he nodded grimly.

"It couldn't have been that ba-"

"There were samurai, Shikamaru. Twelve of them." Sasuke interrupted.

"Oh" Shikamaru replied, having nothing to say to that.

"Yeah" Sasuke hung his head, weary "they broke my sword, too" he added.

'_Well, damn_' Shikamaru thought '_he got this month's mission from hell, I guess_.' "Gonna finally take my advice then?" he smirked.

Sasuke crossed his arms, ashamed of what he was going to say. "Yeah, after I get Kusanagi fixed" he looked away "I'm taking a nice long nap" then added "or three."

"Yes, yes you will" Shikamaru smugly nodded.

"Oh, congratulations Shikamaru" Itachi offered, having finished speaking -and apologizing- with Hinata. "Ms. Hyuuga tells me that you made special jounin about three minutes ago. I must say, it is about time the Hokage gave you that promotion me and a bunch of the other jounin recommended" he stated.

"This slacker? A special jounin? What's the world coming to?" Sasuke mock groaned, his standard smirk back in place.

"I. I th. I Think Shikamaru is very qualified for the position" Hinata meekly defended.

"No one can question that" Sasuke scoffed. "I was just expecting him to put it off for as long as he could. At least until he hit twenty or Temari beats his ass or something" he shrugged, ignoring Shikamaru's scowl.

"Thanks, I think" the Nara heir deadpanned.

"Anytime."

"Well, it was a pleasure running into the two of you" Itachi nodded. "But we should turn in this mission and then get some rest" he sighed, walking to the Hokage's office.

"Later" Sasuke waved over his back, following his brother.

"Alright" Hinata announced as the Uchiha brothers made their exit. "Let's go to the compound and plan for this mission" she suggested.

"Sounds fine to me" Shikamaru shrugged. '_The guys - and, more importantly, Naruto - might still be there, though_' he mused, glancing at the Hyuuga heiress.

She merely nodded, continuing to lead the way.

* * *

"Alright, so cloud and mist are making some preliminary negotiations to set up some sort of treaty. And apparently, we don't want that?" Shikamaru concluded. '_I hate politician speak_'

"Pretty much" Hinata agreed. "We just have to take him out, while avoiding his…. Security" she ground out.

"Frikkin samurai, how Troublesome" he groaned.

"Don't forget one of the Seven swordsman or the fact that most of lightning's ninja are pseudo swordsmen as well" Hinata added.

"Yeah, grand" the Nara heir sighed. "Say, how do you deal with swords and such?" Shikamaru asked, perking up. "I've never really seen you use anything other than kunai and the gentle fist" he clarified.

"Well, I've been sparring with TenTen, who's been trying to teach me about some weapon triangle or other" she shrugged "but I don't like spears or anything other than the standard kunai and shuriken, really" another shrug.

"Primarily gentle fist, then" Shikamaru summed it up.

"Yeah, but what about you?" Hinata asked.

"Well, thankfully Asuma's trench knives are high quality chakra blades, so they don't get chopped in half by other chakra enhanced weapons, and I'd say I'm pretty decent with 'em now" he scratched the back of his head. "I wish I could say the same for my tanto, though" he sighed.

"Well, we've got work to do."

"It also takes around a week to get there…."

"We leave tomorrow, then" Hinata decided.

"As you command, captain" Shikamaru groaned.

"Prepare for any circumstance, we set off at dawn."

"Be careful!" his mother scolded.

"Try not to die, you still have to train" his father told him.

"Take good care of Hinata!" the girls warned him.

"Lucky!" the guys complained.

"Presents!" Tsukiko - the two year old daughter of the deceased Asuma and retired Kurenai - demanded.

With his goodbyes finished, Shikamaru and Hinata put the gates of Konoha behind them, devising strategies and contingencies along the way.


	2. Ambush Tactics for Dummies

Alright, I'm sorry. The plot died, I don't even know where this is going anymore. Read at your own risk. Also, not much sense is made.

* * *

"Our best bet would be to find and ambush the guy, before any cloud ninja can help out and screw us over" Shikamaru insisted during another planning session, on the fifth day of their week long trek, well into the afternoon, where the various mountains of the region drew closer.

"That's possible, but since they will technically still be in enemy territory, they will be on extremely high alert the second they can see the mainland" Hinata argued. "It'd be much better to attack while they're in the village itself, when the ambassador is relatively unguarded, and we can slip in and out."

"There's no way we'd be able to get anywhere near the guy if he makes it to the village" Shikamaru disagreed. "Temari is a ninja herself, and a damn good one" he grudgingly admitted. "But even she has bodyguards as well as our own people, watching her carefully. Sneaking around in a village full of ninja is nearly impossible."

The two contemplated, what had been said for a moment, walking along a path that would eventually lead to the docks.

"Attacking them while on sea would be obvious suicide, given their mastery of water Jutsu compared to my own" Shikamaru thought aloud. "And we don't know which of the seven swordsmen is escorting the guy."

"Don't forget that we have no clue how many samurai will be grouping up with them when they reach land" Hinata thought as well. "It'll probably be the standard four samurai deal, though."

"Maybe they won't get along well with the ninja escort" Shikaru wished "maybe they'll even have a falling out and try to kill each other" he sighed.

"If only we were so lucky" Hinata agreed, indulging in the wishful thinking.

"If only."

"Yeah" Hinata sighed.

"So…. Ambush?" Shikamaru prompted.

"We may as well" Hinata relented, so the two began preparations.

* * *

"I really hate these new samurai, all they do is swing around a sword, then they think to call themselves samurai. Not like the good old days, when the land of iron believed in quality over quantity, like any other self respecting village, like cloud, actually. The ninja there are some good swordsmen" one man commented to another as their ship was moored to the pier by a few sailors.

"One of the seven swordsmen is praising the swordsmanship of others? Are they really that proficient?" the other asked, eying the blades sheathed at the other's back, a hook protruding from near the base and the tip of the swords in opposite directions.

"Oh yes they are, quite a few of them could've been one of the seven, had they worked for the mist" the swordsman confirmed. "I've been in quite a few skirmishes with the lightning ninja and collected quite a few scars from their blades" he added, rather proudly.

"Wouldn't you be worried, they may harbor a few grudges against you?" the other man asked.

"Not at all, what happens on the field should stay on the field. I've lost countless allies to the other villages, but they were simply doing their job, the same as myself. Hating the other villages and all of their ninja would be pointless" he finished somberly.

His companion nodded at the statement, agreeing. "That's quite profound, I must say. No wonder they sent you with me" he commented.

"That could be one reason" the swordsman considered. "But I'm pretty sure it's mostly because these fangs here are very well respected by the cloud ninja" he mused, adjusting the odd blades strapped to his back.

"That could also be the case" the ambassador agreed. "You know, you don't have to do this. Join my master, we could use men like yourself" he suggested.

"Don't waste your breath, the only way I'd even consider such a thing, would be to kill the traitor that stole Samehada" the swordsman grinned, bloodlust radiating off of him in waves for an instant. "Well, let's get back to business" he smiled jovially, back to normal. "That's our 'escort' waiting for us" he replied, indicating the quartet of armored samurai on the docks.

"Captain Nakano, I presume?" the ambassador nodded towards the helmet clad man in the center of the group.

"That is correct, Mr. Matsuoka" Nakano and his team bowed. "Now, if you please, let us be off. We have much ground to cover" he commanded.

* * *

"They've merged with the samurai" Hinata announced, deactivating her Byakugan as she and Shikamaru left the port town.

"Well, we weren't expecting to be able to get to them before the samurai did, but this still sucks" Shikamaru groaned.

"Then you definitely won't like this" Hinata warned him.

"What? Akatsuki is there too?" Shikamaru jokingly guessed hoping to be wrong.

"No" she shook her head. "The thunderswords, Kiba have a new wielder."

"Wonderful, one of the seven swordsmen's successors and a group of samurai, this'll be fun" he sighed. "What are your orders?" he asked Hinata.

"Well, it'd be best to go with a quick 'hit and run' assassination" she began "but, it'll be difficult getting anywhere near them…. And we aren't exactly demolition monsters, like the others" she continued.

"We take them out during a watch, then?"

"That'd be safest, for us."

* * *

Later that night, three of the four samurai -including the captain- were performing their rounds of the perimeter, as the ambassador, ninja and fourth samurai slept.

Unfortunately for the two Konoha ninja trailing them, they had managed to come across an inn during their travels.

"Well, this is bad, civilians could get in the way and the enemy ninja plus the other samurai are sharing the room with our target" Hinata observed, her byakugan active.

"We could take out the samurai" Shikamaru considered, then shook his head "no, that'd just make it so much harder to get to our mark." Suddenly, he perked up. "How thick are the walls?"

"A standard exploding tag would blow right through the surrounding walls, it'd kill the other residents and probably outright level the entire inn. I will not allow it" Hinata stated, resolute.

"I make my own, Hinata" Shikamaru sighed. "I have a few, that are used for rooms like these. Rather than explode, and kill will concussive force" Shikamaru paused. "They'll fry."

"Fry?" Hinata echoed, confused. Even more mystified as he held up a modified sealing tag & light tag. The only differences being the word 'lightning' engraved onto them instead of the usual 'seal' or 'light' in their place.

"Instead of an explosion, or even a burst of light. There will be thunder" he elaborated.

"That, can be done?" Hinata asked, still skeptical.

"Hey, if there are kunai with special seals that can explode, emit light, bind people's shadows - even if I did that one too - and even let people teleport. What's a burst of lightning, to add into the mix? Besides, the tests ended up alright" he added.

"Tests and the field are two completely different extremes" Hinata warned him.

"Don't I know it" Shikamaru muttered. "Just trust me on this, Captain. No civilians will be harmed."

Hinata stared at him, contemplating the possibilities of what could possibly happen. She located the three Samurai, still patrolling the area around the inn. "Very well then, but we will prepare for the worst anyway."

The shadow manipulator smirked. "That's the only way to prepare."

* * *

Captain Nakano had seen the kunai as it flew from the treetops and crashed into the window of the ambassador's room. He also saw the seal attached to it.

'_An explosive kunai!' _he thought. '_We never expected anyone targeting the ambassador to stoop to such depravity. All of the other patrons will die as well!_' is all that ran through his mind while he watched.

A split second after the kunai penetrated, the ninja swordsman in the room smashed through the window, the ambassador in his arms as he descended to the ground, a blue glow followed by a few azure bolts of lightning erupted from the window, smashing the rest of the glass to pieces before fading away moments later.

'_My lieutenant is dead, I suppose'_ Nakano grieved, bowing his head._ 'But the ambassador is still safe, back to business._' He reached for the headset on his ear, "the assassin is concealing himself within the neighboring vegetation, surround the area but be cautious, there may be more than one" he ordered, rushing towards where he saw the kunai emerge.

Outraged and not thinking clearly enough, the captain hopped over the hastily prepared tripwire being concealed - poorly, in his opinion - by the bushes and grasses in the small woodland, and snapped the thin wire hidden behind it.

Flames engulfed him.

* * *

"Well, that was pretty easy" Shikamaru remarked to himself. "You'd think they'd do the smart move, and get the ambassador to safety first. But, easier for me I guess" he shrugged, as a second and third explosion sounded off. "And that takes care of that, I suppose." He activated the communicator attached to his ear. "How are things on your end, Captain?" he drawled.

"I've already said that's unnecessary, Shikamaru" Hinata's soft voice replied over the headphone. "I'm trailing them now, we'll most likely be passing nearby resting point twelve by nightfall."

"This does speed things up, be careful capt-" he smirked, "be careful Hinata, I'll catch up to you as soon as I can. Over"

"Very well. Report when you've ensured that the hostiles have been taken care of."

"Understood." '_Now let's see if I can get any info out of this_' he thought to himself.

* * *

Nakano regained consciousness with a burst of all encompassing pain when Shikamaru's foot nudged him.

"Well, that's impressive, if not just a little scary" Shikamaru noted aloud, as the charred samurai writhed on the ground, coughing and spitting up blood.

"You-" the man ground out before wheezing again. "You did this?" he demanded, voice hoarse and burnt from the explosion.

"I guess this is why you're the captain, judging by the horned helmet. Oh, your subordinates are dead, in case you were wondering" he added offhandedly.

"Why are you telling me this?" Nakano asked, gasping for breath.

"To see if you'd still choose to live, even though your mission failed" the ninja replied.

"The ambassador is dead?"

"But of course, the mist swordsman could only do so much, against six of our ninja" Shikamaru lied. "I guess that peace treaty won't be getting signed!" he laughed.

"You fool!" the samurai snapped, hacking up more blood and mucus. "With that man dead, negotiations will crumble and Akatsuki will slaughter the lands of Iron, Water and Lightning first!" he screeched.

"….What?"

"He was a captured spy, after arriving in Kumo, we would sign a treaty with the Raikage and take the prisoner to Ame and release him in exchange for an armistice between the four of our nations" he sighed, his voice getting lower with every word, until it was barely a whisper. "With him dead, not only have I failed my homeland, but I've condemned them to war…. I don't deserve to live" he finished.

Shikamaru was left speechless. '_This is bad, this is really bad' _Shikamaru panicked. '_If they were going to do the exchange in Ame, that means the Akatsuki must have a really strong following there or something' _he reasoned, his mind racing. '_Shit, Hinata has to know about this, but, do we abort the mission, or continue with it? Either way ends with an eventual war…. Unless…. This is…. Troublesome.'_

"Well?" the dying man gasped, furious. "Won't you finish me off?"

"No, no I won't. I have a few more questions for you" the Nara deadpanned, serious.

"Heh, I have nothing to say to you" the samurai spat.

"I have ways to make you talk, if that's what you want" Shikamaru offered, connecting his shadow to the samurai's. "Now, let's see exactly how far a man with broken legs can walk" he mused as the severely injured man shakily rose to his feet.

"What are you-" shadows shaped like hands began to wrap around his knees "-graagh!"

* * *

"Shikamaru, where are you?" Hinata whispered to herself as she continued to tail the fleeing swordsman and ambassador. '_By now, he must realize that he's being followed. Will he try to reach the cloud ninja, or attempt to elude his pursuer?'_ she contemplated. After another failed attempt at reaching Shikamaru - her fourth, now - she began to worry. '_Could there have been other ninja or samurai around? No, I checked, thoroughly. Is it possible that we underestimated the samurai? Possibly, but I can't turn back, not this far into lightning territory, it'll be difficult to get back undeterred' _she considered. Her mind made up, she tried the communicator once more. "Shikamaru? Shikamaru, respond" she commanded.

No reply came back.

"Hinata, where are you?" the communicator crackled, static making the message difficult to hear.

"I'm in pursuit of the target, we'll be reaching point forty two in seventeen minutes, at this pace" she answered. "What's your status?"

"I found some pretty important stuff out. I'll tell you when we meet up" he replied, rather cryptically. "Do you think you can herd him towards rendezvous sixteen?"

"Probably not against him, but I think he's decided to head towards the hidden village, he'll probably try to make it the whole way in one trip" she informed her partner.

"It's been done before, but he'll be low on chakra, I can try to cut him off. Keep me posted, captain" he told her, then hesitated "if you can, don't kill the ambassador, alright?" then disconnected.

Confused, all Hinata could do was shrug and continue her tracking.

* * *

"Alright, we'll be there in a little less than a day, try to stay awake now, okay?"

"But, I just woke up from my nap. Can't I rest a bit longer?" the ambassador/hostage whined.

"Not if you want to stay alive. We're being followed, if you hadn't guessed that much already."

"Oh" the diplomat replied, falling silent.

"Twenty more hours of running, joy. The things I do for my country!" the swordsman growled.

* * *

Twelve hours away from the village of cloud, Shikamaru's trap was sprung.

Shuriken burst from the leafy cover of a tree, whistling towards the mist ninja. Swiftly drawing one of his swords in mid stride, the swordsman easily deflects the shuriken and sweeps his blade in the general direction of the tree, unleashing a hail of thin lightning particles upon the tree, tearing it - and anything close by - to shreds. He doesn't even stop to survey the damage, knowing that to even slow down would be unacceptable now.

Further ahead, concealed in the foliage of another tree, Shikamaru groans. '_Grand, thunder senbon. Do I really think I can hold him off until Hinata can get to me' _he grumbled to himself. Readying his explosive kunai, he mutters "I'll have to", before throwing one of them at his rapidly advancing opponent.

The kunai is cut from hilt to tip, instantly deactivating. Shikamaru throws another explosive, knowing that his position has been noted and detonates it in midair before the swordsman can stop it, throwing him backwards and halting his charge, dropping the ambassador in all of the commotion.

Shikamaru swoops in and takes hold of the diplomat - swinging him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes - before leaping back into the trees, the swordsman in hot pursuit, both blades now drawn, throwing bolts of lightning in an attempt to stun him. "Just a little closer" he mumbles to himself, barely sidestepping another bolt of electricity.

"Hinata, I'm ready" he breathed into his headset.

"I see you" the headset answered.

_'Alright, let the performance begin'_ Shikamaru smirked, throwing the ambassador onto a tree branch further away as he landed and spun around to face the pursuer.

A hail of kunai and shuriken emerged from the tree cover, enveloping the swordsman as he dodged or reflected them with his blades. Shikamaru drew a tag from his pouch and placed it onto the palm of his hand before dashing towards the defending ninja as he escaped the rain of deadly projectiles and moved to engage him.

The swordsman swept both swords in Shikamaru's direction, unleashing a cloud of thunder senbon at the Nara, expecting him to attempt avoiding or deflecting them.

Instead, raised his hand and detonated the tag on his hand, releasing burst of cutting winds, dissipating the projectile chakra and causing the genius to soar backwards, sliding underneath the branch of the now terrified diplomat.

The swordsman didn't fare so well, surprised by the unexpected counter of his technique, the gust of wind chakra blew him backwards - while slashing his face and torso - right into a waiting Hinata, striking the muscles in his arms and legs repeatedly with swift painful jabs, utilizing her family's style with fluid and deadly grace.

As Hinata silently landed on her feet, the swordsman painfully collided with the ground, unable to use his body effectively in order to cushion the fall. "The hell?" he grunted, "A Hyuuga. What is Konoha doing, meddling in our affairs!" the swordsman gasped.

Walking towards Hinata and the incapacitated mist ninja, Shikamaru dropped a now bound and gagged diplomat before them, out like a rock. "This is why genjutsu is such a useful thing to know" he commented, ignoring the swordsman.

"He's been secured. Good" the potential heiress nodded. "Now, tell me why you practically ordered me to not kill him?" she demanded.

"Kill him!" the motionless shinobi shrieked. "You can't! His death will doom the land of water!" he cried, struggling to regain mobility.

"That's why" Shikamaru offered.

"What?" Hinata asked, confused by the sudden declaration.

"Akatsuki" Shikamaru muttered, staring at the enemy ninja, silencing him. "That samurai captain told me everything. Hinata, we have to take this man with us, Akatsuki is looking for allies, or at least an agreement of non-intervention from the lands of lightning, iron and water. Minato ha-"

"Non-intervention with what?" Hinata interrupted.

"Akatsuki is gearing up for war" the downed swordsman grunted. "Non-intervention would be the safest course of action for our villages."

"So you'd throw the other lands to the wolves" Shikamaru growled.

"Yes, I would" the swordsman replied.

"But why?" Hinata questioned. "You know what Akatsuki is after, that they'll betray you-"

"My name is Ryou Takahashi" he interrupted. I am a shinobi of the village hidden in the mist. I am the current wielder of the twin swords of thunder, Kiba, thus labeling me as one of the seven swordsmen of the mist. My priorities lie with the well being of my country first and foremost. Do not spout your ideals of how Akatsuki is evil and will eventually betray us as you believe my homeland is betraying yours, child" he spat. "Now tell me, who are you, to question the loyalty I have for my home?" Ryou challenged.

"That was unnecessary" the Nara drawled. "Your titles are, in the end, tools to aid your country's ambitions. In the end, no matter how much weight your name carries, it is ultimately, but another tool. We are tools, and nothing more. We will gladly sacrifice our souls for the good of the village and the land. That is a Shinobi" Shikamaru recited mechanically.

"Then" Ryou began "you see that my-"

"I am Shikamaru Nara, shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves. My sole purpose in life is the advancement of my home. This is why, I will be taking the ambassador and your blades as bargaining chips, to enter this non-intervention pact, hopefully to spare the land of fire, in the place of the lands of iron, water and lightning" he gravely remarked, drawing a kunai.


	3. Plots & Ploys

Relatively short chapter if I do say so myself. Mostly for plot progression & buying time until something comes to me. If it seems rushed, it - sort of - was. Enjoy.

* * *

"Shikamaru!" Hinata called. "What are you trying to pull?" she seethed.

"Getting us an audience with the Akatsuki that won't potentially end with anymore dead leaf ninja" he replied, cold.

"And killing him will achieve this, how?" she shot back.

"The death of any of the seven swordsmen by the hand of a Konoha shinobi would be quite the statement" the Nara offered.

"That makes sense" Ryou agreed, springing from the ground in an attempt to get some distance between him and the two enemy shinobi. He managed to get to his feet - both blades in hand - before finding himself unable to move. "I guess that didn't work" he sighed.

"I don't know why you expected it to" Shikamaru scoffed. "My shadow's been connected to you the second you were taken down" he informed the swordsman. "But it was an interesting idea , diverting the body's chakra flow to make your limbs move some other way, I presume?" he analyzed.

"Well now" he huffed, struggling to escape the new state of paralysis he'd been caught in. "You're a clever one" he observed.

Shikamaru shrugged, causing the other to shakily imitate his movements, "so I've been told."

"I'll just have to block all your chakra points" Hinata sighed, reactivating her Byakugan.

"That won't be necessary" Shikamaru told her, forcing the mist shinobi to impale himself with both of his weapons, taking the heiress and swordsman by complete surprise as they erupted from Ryou's back in a deluge of blood.

"Damn" the dying ninja coughed, a spurt of crimson phlegm accompanying his words, "don't I get any last words?" he coughed out.

"I doubt you have too many regrets, aside from this" Shikamaru answered.

"You've murdered…. us…. all-" Ryou died.

"And that's that" the shadow manipulator sighed, forcing the deceased body to twist the blades -once, then twice - for good measure, to be certain the man had died, before releasing the possession and allowing the corpse to slump to the ground on its side.

Hinata shook her head sadly, disapproval in her eyes as she crossed her arms and eyed the lazy genius. "What was the purpose of this, Shikamaru? Taking the Kiba would have been enough of a message. Having him alive to relay it would have been even better" she reasoned.

"Not at all" Shikamaru countered. "We didn't beat this man on any sort of equal footing, he would've come after us in an attempt to reacquire their bargaining chip. And, having him tell the other villages that Konoha has this guy - indicating the comatose prisoner - and is dooming their villages to war, would only make matters worse, doing an even better job of turning three entire countries against us" was his rationale. "No, it's for the best that they believe Akatsuki intercepted their route and liberated the guy, procuring another pair of legendary weapons along the way. That'll make it easier for the mist village to join up with us" he plotted.

"Exactly what did you find out?" Hinata inquired. "Why do we need multi village alliances to battle Akatsuki? A group that never has more than ten members."

"Ten 'Primary Members' is what they have. People to lead the masses" Shikamaru alluded, retrieving the blades and sealing them within a scroll. "I'll tell you what I know" he decided, sealing Ryou's body within another scroll and throwing the - still unconscious - ambassador over his shoulder. "On the way, to the village hidden by rain."

* * *

"Why Ame?" Hinata had asked after leaving the site of their skirmish behind them.

"That's where the Akatsuki and village envoys were going to rendezvous. The samurai said that Akatsuki would know when they had arrived" Shikamaru answered.

"But, Pein is dead, isn't he? After defeating Hanzo, he took control of Ame. Does this mean the village is under the leadership of another Akatsuki member or something of the like?" she mused. "And what do you mean when you say that the Akatsuki we are aware of are just the 'Primary' members?"

"Yeah, Pein is dead, but Ame is ruled by their strongest ninja. Which probably means that whoever heads Akatsuki is most likely the head of the village now, too" Shikamaru suggested. The organization members that we know of, are always S-Ranked and particularly skilled or gifted with some uncommon trait, making them unique in comparison to other ninja. These men and women are the elite in an elaborate hierarchy, filled with possibly thousands of covert ninja that have infiltrated each and every village" he concluded.

"But, how could so many agents possibly be right under our noses?" Hinata shot.

"Remember the incident in Suna, with Gaara, the sleeper agent?"

"Yura? You believe that could be the case with all of our villages?"

"There probably aren't anymore in Suna now, or not many more. But yes, the major villages and countries are bound to have them, minor countries have probably been infiltrated as well" Shikamaru considered. "This is bad, how do we tell who an agent is or isn't? Very elaborate, this plan was. How long have they been plotting this?" he began muttering. "Damn, we need more information, we need an insider of our own or an organization member willing to talk…. Troublesome" the stressed man sighed.

"Shikamaru. Calm Down" Hinata advised. "We'll go over this one step at a ti-"

"We don't have 'time' Hinata." Shikamaru seethed. "This was an extraordinary find & it has to be capitalized to the fullest" he stressed.

"I understand, but you're thinking too much" the heiress soothed. "What we should do, is get to Konoha and report this to the Hokage. Minato and the clan heads will know how to deal with this" she coaxed.

"That's just it, Hinata, by the time we get to the village the meeting will have been aborted & we'll have missed our chance."

"We've already ensured that there won't be an alliance between three of the world's strongest lands and the Akatsuki. What more do you hope to accomplish?"

"I don't know anymore" he growled.

"Because you've already done enough-"

"This isn't enough! They still have the upper hand, Konoha and Suna won't stand a chance against the Akatsuki. When they have their agents strike, it'll cripple us. Add to that, the indirect fighting already going on with the unallied villages and other missing nin. Our villages will be slaughtered" the Nara finished in a dire tone.

"That's why the other lands were so desperate to have this alliance" Hinata observed.

"Sacrifice a thousand to save ten thousand…. I'm willing to sacrifice ten thousand to save a thousand" Shikamaru resolved, removing the scroll and taking one of Ryou's Kiba blades from it.

"Shikam-" she caught the scroll - containing the other Kiba blade - tossed to her, confused. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

"I'm going to do something despicable and selfish, for the good of Konoha and Suna. You'll understand eventually" he answered obscurely, cleaning Ryou's blood from the blade and sheathing it at his hip.

"Shikamaru! I will not accept that as an answer!" Hinata roared.

"Sorry Hinata, but this is for the best. Go to Konoha, give Minato the mission details and then tell him what we've discovered as well as that I've defected" he ordered, moving to leave with the captured ambassador.

"Don't be an idiot, Shikamaru!" Hinata pleaded. "If the Akatsuki doesn't outright kill you, then we, Konoha, your friends, then I, will have to put you down!" she cried.

"Hinata, don't be difficult" Shikamaru sighed, not even bothering to look over his shoulder, staring in the direction of his destination. "I'm leaving, don't chase after me. I wouldn't want to hurt you" he called, walking away.

"You don't have to do this, we don't want you to do this. Konoha will reject the very idea of allying with Akatsuki! So will Suna!" she reasoned.

"They will not be allies. I only want to see if I can get them to agree to taking up a non-aggressive stance towards the two villages, at the least" he replied, further away now.

"Look at me!" Hinata shrieked, forcing Shikamaru to stop and slowly turn around, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Wha-"

"And what will you offer them in return? Obviously they won't just agree with whatever you say, just to have that man back" she whispered.

"You know that I'll offer up my services as well. They know who killed Hidan and I'm sure I can take credit for Kakuzu as well, it'll ease the focus off of Naruto & the others too" he stated.

"What makes you think they care? You know that they want the tailed beas-" she froze, her expression changing to one of fury. "Will you betray Naruto, after all he's done for us, for yo-"

"How dare you suggest something like that!" Shikamaru snapped, losing his composure for a second, before reverting back to his façade of mild annoyance. "As far as anyone else is concerned, I don't know Naruto, or anyone else of importance, all that well. I'm just another missing-nin from Konoha" he decided.

"You can't be serious! This is suicide, regardless of the outcome. Don't make me fight you!" Hinata pleaded. "Just come hom-"

"Hinata, stop it. Go home, tell everyone I'm sorry. But, from here on out, we're enemies, understand?" he commanded.

"You'll have to force me, Shikamaru" Hinata stated obstinately, crossing her arms.

"My shadow is already connected to yours, Hinata, all I would have to do is strangle you until you pass out" he claimed.

"I don't care. As my friend, I will chase you down, all the way to Ame if I have to. We all will" she promised.

"You won't be remembering this conversation" Shikamaru sighed, activating his shadow.

As Hinata struggled and eventually collapsed - unconscious due to lack of air -, Shikamaru cried.

A few mid-level genjutsu placed upon her mind, and all she would remember is being attacked by Shikamaru after Ryou was killed, no recollection of what was said other than his defection, possession of half the Kiba as well as to inform Minato of what the ambassador's true purpose was.

* * *

Hinata awoke in an unfamiliar bed - more like a cot, really - when the - slightly fabricated - events of her mission and what they meant, came rushing at her.

Leaping out of her bed, Hinata discovered that she was fully clothed, still dressed in her traveling attire. Activating her Byakugan, she saw that her room was one of many in an inn, no guards or other menacing looking individuals were stationed outside of the room. In fact, the other guests in their rooms were asleep and she highly doubted the elderly woman downstairs manning the reception desk could do much damage. Deactivating the Byakugan, Hinata emerged from the bed, still wary, and carefully searched her pack. The other blade of Kiba was still there, along with another set of clothes, but all of her spare weapons were missing along with most of the poultices and travel rations. He left her with enough food to last two days of comfortable travel. And also no money.

Inventory taken care of, the Hyuuga heiress set about quickly cleaning herself, applying a small amount of ointment to the bruises around her throat and changing into fresh clothes before donning the pack, leaving the room and heading downstairs.

Upon reaching the last step, the elderly woman ambushed her with questions.

"Oh, you're awake!" the old lady chirped, genuinely surprised for some reason.

"Y-yes, I am" Hinata confirmed, confused. "Was I not supposed to be?" she asked.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant!" the woman amended, shaking her head feverishly, wrinkles splaying all over the place. "It's just that, when your male friend brought you in" her tone very suggestive when she said 'male' "he was all frantic, saying that you'd just collapsed while traveling. And you still look oh so pale!" she cried. "Perhaps you ought to lie down for a little while longer, or are you restless, having been asleep for an entire day already?"

The Hyuuga spluttered "a whole day?" Recomposing herself, she asked "Did my friend happen to mention where he went?" she asked.

"Oh, he said that he'd be heading home to retrieve a doctor, seeing as how you were so pale. He was worried that you wouldn't make it back, if he took you with him" she answered.

"I see" Hinata offered, inwardly furious at the Nara's continued manipulations.

Noticing the woman's angry aura, the senior attempted to console her. "Don't worry, he already paid for three days' worth of rent, and even for food. He also said to feed you plenty of water and grains if you woke up, too" she smiled, offering the girl a piece buttered toast.

'_Damn it' _Hinata cursed. '_That's also what you give a recuperating genjutsu victim. Which explains the extensive period of sleep'_ she mused. "I'm sorry ma'am" she bowed, taking the offered slice of bread. "But, can you tell me where I am, exactly?"

"Why, you're in the 'Hot Springs Village' of course."

'_The land of hot water. How long did it take him to bring the ambassador and my genjutsu afflicted body this far back?' _Hinata mused. "I see, he did say that we could relax in the hot springs if our trip didn't take too long" she told the old woman, adding a wistful note to her voice. "But, after" she turned to look out at a window, seeing the sun high in the sky and taking note of the pangs from her stomach "eating lunch. I should probably head home. Wouldn't want to worry everyone, you know?"

"Of course, of course!" the elderly woman agreed. "There's a restaurant across the street" she rummaged underneath the reception desk, producing a slip of paper for her efforts. "Here's a meal voucher, a flask of water and a loaf of bread for your trip back. Be safe young lady!"

"I will, thank you" Hinata bowed once more and exited the inn.

"There's no time to stop and eat. This bread and water should be enough, along with the rations" Hinata decided, leaving the village and leaping into the trees. "Shikamaru has made his decision. Now the others must be informed" she resolved, headed towards Konoha.

* * *

"Tell me again, why I'm being escorted to Ame by a lone Konoha shinobi, rather than a contingent of Samurai, one of the seven swordsmen and a few cloud shinobi?" the unbound captive queried.

"It's quite simple, Mr. Matsuoka" Shikamaru began.

"Oh, please call me Yuuto, Mr. Nara" the man asked pleasantly.

"Very well then, Yuuto. Call me Shikamaru, to be fair" the younger man offered.

"Shikamaru it is" Yuuto nodded. "You were saying?"

"Ah yes" Shikamaru sighed, drawing the blade at his side for the pseudo ambassador to see. "As you may have guessed" he began casually, admiring the blade from different angles. "I killed them all, since Konoha and the land of fire are much more deserving of this lucrative offer."

"Impressive. That was your flashy exploding kunai, then?" the amiable man surmised, obviously awed. "I wouldn't take you to be a swordsman type, though" he observed.

"You're pretty calm, asking questions from the guy that made an attempt on your life" Shikamaru commented offhandedly. "But yeah, my preference isn't the blade. But this is an extremely high quality chakra augmenting weapon. Not to mention how much this would go for, in the right circles" Shikamaru hinted.

"Well, you have been pretty cool to talk to, you've got a nice head for business and you don't drag me around like a bag of rocks, Shikamaru. Plus, you beat one of the legendary seven swordsmen" Yuuto shrugged. "How would you like to join my master?" he proposed.

Smirking, Shikamaru answered "I thought you'd never ask."


	4. Discussions

Huh, I'm sorry... this thing went off on an unexpected tangent, again.

Blame the (non-existent) drugs.

Also... Kisame enjoys cursing. Yes, it does go there.

Warning: Dialogue. Lots and lots of dialogue.

* * *

"Oh?" Yuuto chimed. "You planned on joining the Akatsuki anyway, Shikamaru?"

"Of course" the Nara answered, as if the answer was obvious.

"Well?" the - former - hostage prompted.

"That's a little personal. Don't be troublesome, Yuuto" Shikamaru half-heartedly scolded.

"Alright, alright. A story for a later time, then?" the man grinned.

Shikamaru sighed. "We'll see how the negotiations go, first. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Oh I doubt things will go too badly" Yuuto assured him. "Besides, I'll put in a good word for you."

Shikamaru gave the man a disbelieving look.

"What? Is a recommendation from me, not good enough?" the childish man queried.

"It's not that" the Nara paused, having to choose his next words carefully. "It's just that, not only were you captured, but I'm the one bringing you back, technically as a prisoner."

"So my opinion could be considered forced or fabricated?"

"Pretty much" Shikamaru nodded.

"Poppycock, I'm a pro at resisting genjutsu and most tortures!" he boasted.

"….Is that so" the Nara humored him, having put the man in a genjutsu induced coma for the past couple of days. "What sorts of genjutsu can you repel?"

"So long as I'm conscious, my body just naturally rejects most conventional illusions & even some of the more advanced ocular genjutsu is rendered ineffective" he shrugged, chuckling.

"And when you're unconscious?" Shikamaru pried. 'This next answer should tell me whether he's telling the truth or not.'

"I'm as susceptible as a newborn babe…. or an idiot" the spy chuckled again.

The shinobi released a breath he didn't realize was being held in. 'That's a rather troublesome ability to have to deal with. No wonder Akatsuki allowed him to join their ranks' Shikamaru mused. 'He'd be perfect for infiltrating locations with genjutsu barriers and the like, or just to serve as a sensor during negotiations. But, why was he alone?'

"Say, Yuuto. How'd you get caught, in the first place? I doubt you were alone when you were operating" Shikamaru asked.

"Huh, you figured that much out? You're even sharper than I gave you credit for" Yuuto laughed, a humorless chuckle.

"Don't want to share?"

"Oh I may as well, since we might be working together real soon, given your various" another eerie, humorless, chuckle "talents."

"What do you do?"

Yuuto cheered up once more. "It's simple, really. I'm sort of a mediator during negotiations with potential allies for the organization. Unfortunately, a meeting was interrupted during a border scuffle & everyone but myself pretty much died, trying to fight back and whatnot" he sighed, losing a bit of his cheer. "They were ballsy group of fanatics. I was beginning to like them, too."

"So, you're alive because you didn't fight back?" Shikamaru surmised.

"Well, in my defense, the skirmish was over before I could really do much. Not that I could've done much either way" the agent murmured.

"I see. And you think I'll be tasked with becoming a replacement guard, then?"

"Either that, or one of the negotiators. Especially if you plan on forging an alliance between Konoha and the Akatsuki" Yuuto pointed out. "Konoha & the land of fire in general, hold a particularly strong…. Dislike, for the organization."

"Don't I know it" Shikamaru muttered, memories of Asuma and Hidan flashing through his head. "Well, now. I do believe we'll be arriving in Ame within a few hours." Shikamaru declared. "It'd be best to rest up for the rest of the day so that we can arrive right on time for the meeting tomorrow."

* * *

"Oh, you're relatively early, Hinata" Minato stated. "Where's Shikamaru, is he still mad that I made him a jounin, or something?" he laughed.

The laughter died quickly, when he noticed the look on the young woman's face. His tone became serious instantly. "What's wrong?"

Eyes cast towards the ground, she replied "Shikamaru…. has defected."

Minato eyes widened, thinking 'This is inconceivable! That boy wouldn't just up and defect out of the blue.' He looked Hinata in the eyes. "Tell me. Everything" the fourth Hokage of Konoha commanded.

* * *

An impromptu meeting had been called for the rest of Shikamaru's peers - dubbed the "Konoha 12" - later that same day. Consisting of Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Chouji, the missing Shikamaru & sometimes Sai. All but Shikamaru - for obvious reasons - had met up at the training grounds for team seven, being the most spacious. Hinata went over what she could recall from the mission.

"This is ridiculous!" Kiba growled. "I find it hard to believe that he would just decide to leave all of a sudden."

"Yeah, I don't see why Shika would just…. You know" Ino agreed.

"I agree" Neji intoned. "Nara always has a reason for everything he does."

"Yeah, whenever I get a mission with him, he makes sure to explain why we're doing whatever. Even when nobody asks" Tenten recalled.

"Shikamaru is an honorable man!" Lee cheered. "There must be something we don't know!"

"True" Naruto offered. "Shikamaru and Kakashi sensei do get along eerily well" he shivered. "They even had a discussion on ways to take 'underneath the underneath' to the next level."

The remainder of Team Seven shivered as well.

"I don't know what Shikamaru is planning, but he did hurt Hinata, regardless" Sakura sighed, crackling her knuckles menacingly.

"After I beat the pulp out of that idiot for thinking he can do whatever he wants, we'll drag him back and have him explain himself!" Chouji bellowed.

"Well, that was oddly inspiring" Shino observed.

"Shikamaru will be one of the most dangerous opponents we've had, you realize?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Underestimating him won't be a smart move" Sai agreed.

"Trust me" Choji frowned. "I'll be the last one to underestimate Shika."

"I wasn't able to do anything to stop him" Hinata apologized. "But this time-"

"Hey!" Naruto jumped, excited over something. "This way, I get a serious fight out of that bum!" he cheered.

"You may regret that, idiot" the Uchiha grinned. "I doubt you'll even be a match for him."

They both shared a chuckle over this.

"Alright!" Choji announced, serious. "Let's find Shika before he does something he'll regret!"

"Right!" they chorused.

* * *

Shikamaru sneezed as a chill crept up his spine, causing him to shiver for a moment and then disappeared.

"What the-"

"Someone must be talking about you" Yuuto chuckled.

"Whoever it is, they probably aren't saying very nice things" the Nara muttered, wearing a simple, dull brown cloak and straw hat.

"Probably" the cheery man agreed, dressed in a vibrant solid blue cloak and wearing a straw hat as well.

'Well, we're in the village' Shikamaru mentally checked off. 'And now' he sighed, 'we wait to be contacted.'

Conveniently, his stomach chose to grumble at this time. "Hey, let's get some food, Yuuto."

"Alright!" the man cheered. "I know this place that sells great fried eel!" he clapped his hands, walking off in some direction.

'Alright, I think we're drawing as much attention as possible' Shikamaru mused, adjusting the sword at his hilt, so as to make sure anyone watching could see it. "Well then, he spoke aloud, fried eel it is. Wait up, Yuuto!"

He caught the suspicious glances and nods aimed at him. 'Success' he smirked. 'It's only a matter of time, now.'

* * *

Thankfully, the members of Akatsuki watching Shikamaru & Yuuto were courteous enough to let them finish eating first. Shikamaru was particularly ravenous, for some reason. 'I must be nervous' he thought, silently chuckling. 'Eating my last meal, just in case, perhaps?' At least he got to see some clouds, despite how dreary they were.

Sensing movement behind him, Shikamaru tensed. 'And so it begins.'

A hand clamped onto his shoulder, causing the Nara to turn around and look up from where he was seated. "Our master wishes to speak with you" a rather tired looking man informed him, nodding to Yuuto in greeting. "You should come too, Yuuto."

"I assume the organization will be footing the bill this time, Takamichi?" the agent inquired.

"Why would you use my-" the man sighed, bowing his head in an attempt to calm down. "Just… come on" he ordered, removing his hand and gesturing for the two to follow him.

Within a few minutes of leaving the restaurant and stepping back into the pouring rain, the three men stopped in front of one of the various skyscrapers within the village. Unlocking the door, Takamichi stepped inside, gesturing for the others to follow him inside.

Inside, Shikamaru instantly became aware of three extremely powerful chakra sources higher up in the building. 'Wonderful, at least one of those has to be one of the ten primary members…. At worst, all three of them are' a bead of sweat dripped down his brow.

Breaking out of his thoughts, the ninja took notice of the reception desk and unexpectedly pleasant atmosphere on this floor. Cream colored walls, floral paintings, ambient music, cushioned chairs & even a smiling desk clerk. Shikamaru didn't know what he'd been expecting, but this definitely wasn't it. He blinked, twice, thrice.

"Wow, I haven't been here for a while!" Yuuto exclaimed, walking up to the desk along with their escort while Shikamaru trailed after them.

'If it weren't for the overwhelming presences upstairs, I'd think this was a dentist's office or something' Shikamaru scowled, looking around for something menacing, or at least Akatsuki-ish.

"I believe we have an appointment with the Master, scheduled for three-o'clock?" their escort told the woman the reception desk.

Checking a large book in front of her, she nodded. "Yes, you do have an appointment with our lord in seven minutes, but" she hesitated, blatantly staring at the Nara "isn't the meeting party supposed to be a little larger? And I'm pretty sure it wasn't composed of any Konoha ninja…." She trailed off.

"Don't worry about Shikamaru, Kim, he's cool" Yuuto assured her.

"If you say so, Yuu" she shrugged, pressing a button. "My lord?" she spoke into an intercom.

"Yes, Kimura?" a deep - abyssal, Shikamaru thought - voice answered.

"Yuuto and the party negotiating his return has arrived" she replied.

"The Raikage arrived on time…. And hasn't broken anything?" the voice mused over the small speaker on the desk.

"Uhm…." The girl scratched her head, glancing at Shikamaru again.

He knocked over a vase filled with daisies.

"That sounds about right" the voice sighed. "Send them up" he ordered, hanging up.

"Top floor" Kimura commanded, pointing towards an elevator.

"Let's go" Takamichi sighed, heading towards the elevator.

"This is going to be…. Troublesome."

* * *

"This is…. Really bad" Naruto sighed.

"You think?" Choji snapped, having reconvened at the training grounds with the rest of his peers only four hours later.

The topic?

Shikamaru's updated information in the bingo book.

"Why is he an A-rank missing nin already? He hasn't even done anything!" Ino shrieked.

"Maybe it's because he's considered a jounin, now?" Hinata offered.

"But, it's Shikamaru!" Kiba cried.

"Then it should probably be higher" Sakura deadpanned. "Knowing how good he is at running away."

"He's got a bounty of 600 thousand ryo…." Shino observed.

"That's rather underwhelming" Neji added.

"That is Shikamaru for you" Lee nodded.

"Yeah…." the others sighed.

"Oh crap" Choji whispered, struck with a revelation.

"What?"

"If Temari finds out…." he trailed off, fearing for his friend's life.

* * *

Upon exiting the elevator, Shikamaru sneezed.

"Screw the superstitions" he growled, rubbing his nose. "I think I've caught a cold."

"Please refrain from using any foul language in front of the Master" Takamichi advised him.

"Alright, alright" Shikamaru yawned, following their escort down a plain, sterile white hallway towards a simple oaken door.

The man knocked twice.

"Enter" a muffled voice commanded from the other side.

'Those chakra signatures from before are definitely in that room' Shikamaru reminded himself. 'I'll have to play all of my cards…. or' he gulped. 'I'll probably die.'

Takamichi opened the door, gesturing for Shikamaru and Yuuto to enter. After bowing to the two, he closed the door behind them and hastened his way to the exit.

* * *

'No backing out now' Shikamaru thought to himself, keeping his facial expressions neutral while casually scanning the room.

'No windows, drat' was the first thing he noticed. The lavender painted walls, various murals depicting various stages of different battles, an oaken fan on the ceiling and the smoldering fireplace in back came secondary.

Afterwards, Shikamaru put all of his attention towards the large rectangular table in the middle of this deceptively spacious room.

His heart sank upon spotting three separate hooded figures, wearing black cloaks bearing the crimson cloud pattern of the Akatsuki. '... Shit' was all the Nara could manage.

"Well isn't this a surprise" one of the figures mused, in a decidedly masculine voice, deep and foreboding even while sitting down ever so casually. "Very unexpected, I must say."

"Hey, Konoha brat!" a second member barked, seated to the right of the first speaker, leaning back in the chair with one arm haphazardly draped over the side. The other hand held what appeared to be a massive sword covered in white bandages, seeming to give off a menacing aura of it's own. "Why does a runt like you have one of the Kiba? You know what that implies, right?" the voice - at least to Shikamaru's imagination - sneered. "Where'd you find it?"

"Save the interrogations for later, yeah?" the third person sighed, seated to the left of the apparent leader, arms crossed and slouched over the table.

"Pfft" the one to the right scoffed. "As if I'd ever take advice from you, girly man."

The figure to the left shot to their feet, growling "you wanna say that again, yeah?"

"You heard me, pansy."

"I've had it with you, yeah!" the riled up figure shouted. "Now you di-"

"Deidara" the man in the middle spoke, silencing the enraged individual.

"Sorry, boss. Yeah" the man now known as Deidara, apologized, sitting back down.

The man with the sword chuckled, until he looked at him as well, creating silence once more.

"Where are my manners?" he began. "Please, have a seat so that we can all introduce ourselves" he offered.

"Thank you" Shikamaru bowed, cowed by the murderous intent coming off of all three hooded figures.

"How's it goin, peeps!" Yuuto cheered, oblivious.

"Oh god" Deidara sighed, placing his head in his hands. "Now I know why we're here."

"What are you going on about?" the man to the right inquired. "Isn't this an interrogation?"

Shikamaru's eye twitched. "I was under the impression that we were here to negotiate a treaty of sorts, in return for Yuuto here" he pointed out, while the man in question waved happily.

"That is correct, young Nara" the man in the middle confirmed, to the dismay of his two companions.

"So, I'm not here to break fingers and other things" the man to his right declared, disappointment evident in his tone. "But instead, you want me to" he seemed to be struggling to find the correct word "…. Parley?" he finished.

"Yes, that's the gist of it."

"…. Why?"

"Do you see the Kiba that boy is wielding?" the man in the middle asked, outright ignoring Shikamaru & Yuuto. "He's only just recently come into possession of it…." he prompted.

"You mean to tell me, that this kid" he jabbed a thumb in Shikamaru's direction. "Killed one of the seven swordsmen?" he asked, clearly in disbelief.

"He said his name was Ryou Takahashi, right before I killed him, if that helps" Shikamaru shrugged.

"Now I know you're shitting me" the man scoffed. "I know that he claimed the Kiba as his own. I was there to see the match" he nodded. "But there's no way some snot nosed punk could off him. I want proof."

"Where is he supposed to get-" Deidara asked, before being cut off.

"Actually" Shikamaru stood, rummaging through his scroll pockets, before pulling one out. Unfurling it, he reached in and walked over towards the fireplace before dumping Ryou's carcass in front of it.. "Does this count?" he asked.

"Son of a" the man muttered, pulling his hood off as he stood, revealing an odd sight. Light blue skin, odd slits beneath his eyes and a shock of dark blue hair atop his head. Noticing Shikamaru's scrutiny as he approached, the man grinned, showing off razor sharp - Shark-Like - teeth in a show of intimidation.

To his credit, Shikamaru's legs only shook for a moment, long enough for the blue man to chuckle at his expense. Checking over the body, his chuckles died down. "Well kid, you killed him" the man replied, "I don't know how. But, impressive nonetheless" he grudgingly offered. "However, what happened to the other blade?"

"He sealed it away, or something" Shikamaru shrugged. "As he died, he put it in a scroll and did some handseals, spouting about how I was 'unworthy' to wield the Kiba" he explained.

The blue man nodded in agreement, or perhaps it was understanding. "Yeah, Ryou was subject to wax philosophical, every so often" he offered.

"It's all good" Shikamaru declared, placing the body back into his scroll. "I only needed one of them, anyway."

"What are you gonna do with the body, yeah?" Deidara asked. "Turn it into a puppet?" he guessed, remembering his former partner.

"Of course not" Shikamaru scowled. "I could use the money I get from his bounty, though."

"A bounty?" the man in the middle asked, intrigued. "I was under the impression that leaf ninja didn't agree with the bounty system."

"Oh, guess I got carried away" Shikamaru sighed. "I almost forgot why I was here" he replied, sitting back down in his seat as the blue haired man did the same.

"Oh" the mysterious man chuckled. "And what did you come here for?"

"I'd like for Konoha to replace those other countries you planned to 'parley' with" the Nara declared.

"And what makes you think that we would be willing to forego three of the strongest countries in existence, for little old Konoha?"

"Well" Shikamaru began. "For starters, while those three nations are some of the strongest out there. Konoha is **the** strongest nation of them all."

"A bold statement, kid, yeah" Deidara stated.

"You've got guts, kid" the blue man laughed.

"What makes you think that your home is so powerful? Nationalism, because your Hokage is so very invincible?" the intense man asked.

"No one is invincible" Shikamaru asserted. "I would know."

"What makes you an expert on this?"

"Past dealings with this organization have been more than proof enough."

"Past dealings, eh?"

"I've heard about the defeat of Sasori, at the hands of Sakura Haruno, from Konoha, as well as Chiyo, the leader of Suna's puppet brigade."

"So? Sasori was simply weak enough to lose, Yeah."

"No, he simply had the misfortune of dealing with ninja from the first and second strongest countries on the map, which both happen to be allied."

And, you expect us to 'ally' with Suna as well, then?"

"It would be the safest, smartest option."

"This is but one instance."

Shikamaru looked at the cloaked Deidara.

"What, yeah?" the figure spat.

"I would assume that you were the one that beat Gaara, right?"

"Yeah" the man agreed, removing his hood to allow a brief glimpse of some mechanical apparatus covering his left eye, before a cascade of blonde hair fell to cover it up while the rest of it was tied into a ponytail behind his head, leaving one cold solitary blue eye to glare at Shikamaru. "What of it?"

"You know firsthand, the strength of our ninja."

The Jinchuuriki brat and the copy ninja aren't just any ninja!" he roared.

"Exactly, some of the best our village has, you, one of Akatsuki's elite, barely even left a scratch on either of them" Shikamaru continued.

"You arrogant little-"

"These points are all well and good, but I doubt that Konoha and Suna alone would stand a chance, against the combined forces of the lands of Iron, Lightning and Water."

"I think they would" Shikamaru proclaimed. "If I, someone only ranked at the level of special jounin, could kill your Hidan" at this, Deidara's and the blue man's eyes widened. "And assist in the destruction of two of Kakuzu's hearts. Proving that even 'immortals' can be killed" Shikamaru paused. "Who's to say that our entire shinobi force won't manage to overwhelm the other countries?"

"Don't underestimate the strength of an entire group of shinobi, boy."

"I think I made an even greater mistake. I overestimated their strength" Shikamaru replied. "I believed that a ninja that considered himself a god, as the embodiment of pain, was unstoppable…. We all know what happened to him" the genius finished.

"You killed the zombie bros?" the shark toothed man chortled.

"Kisame" the man next to him called, silencing him instantly. "It's impolite to mock the death of one's comrades."

"This kid" Kisame chuckled softly. "Is either one hell of a bullshitter" he grinned maliciously "or he proposes a pretty good point."

"And your opinion, Deidara?"

"I don't like this brat, yeah. In fact, he should probably go die, yeah. But, Konoha and Suna would be a nicer catch than the rest of these villages."

"I see" the man contemplated. "Very well then" the man spoke, rising to his feet and removing his hood to show a bright orange mask patterned with a giant swirl leading toward his right eye, while a small patch of dark black hair rested atop his head. Age practically radiated from the man, evidenced by the deep voice he spoke with. However, what got to Shikamaru more than anything, was the nearly irrepressible urge to run he felt, when a blood red orb gazed into his own murky brown eyes from the depths of that mask.

'A sharingan? Did an Uchiha defect from Konoha? Is he an escapee from the thwarted rebellion? Are any more of the Uchiha in on this? Who knows abou-' Shikmaru's frantic thoughts came to an abrupt halt when the man curled an arm around his shoulders, causing the Nara to go rigid. 'When did he, move?'

"I will consider what you've just told me, child" the masked man announced. "However, there is one slight problem, what makes you think we won't simply kill you and reclaim Yuuto?"

Shikamaru relaxed himself as much as he could - or, at least attempted to - before smirking. "I was wondering when that would pop up" grinned. "I had Yuuto ingest a few of my specially made explosives, right before we came here. "The second my heart has stopped for longer than twenty seconds, Yuuto here'll just go 'boom', you see. Oh, I also had him write down few of your current contacts when I forced him into a genjutsu induced trance. There's a flock of messenger hawks prepared to fly that list to several locations the second they've sensed my chakra flare up irregularly or just cease."

"Interesting" the man mused, unfazed. "What's to stop me from calling your bluff?"

"You put bombs inside of me?" Yuuto quailed, looking decidedly ill, before passing out.

"He certainly doesn't think it's a farce" Kisame pointed out, poking the now limp man by using his wrapped up weapon.

"He didn't detect the genjutsu being used, or that something was laced into his meal…." Deidara contemplated, impressed, should the Nara's claims be true.

Yuuto regained consciousness a few moments later, moaning and rubbing his stomach.

"I require proof" Orange mask demanded.

"You currently have a number of spies and sleeper agents in each of the five nations, excluding Suna, who has managed to root out the majority of them" Shikamaru recited. Looking at Yuuto, he raised a hand up and held the rat seal, causing Yuuto to cry weakly while holding his stomach and moaning before his eyed rolled into the back of his head, fainting once more. "Should I continue?"

"No" the masked man relented. "Yuuto has proven to be a valuable asset to us, so I won't risk his death just yet" he informed Shikamaru. "Unfortunately, you realize that I can't allow you to return to your village, correct?"

"I had a feeling that may have been a possible outcome" the Nara confirmed.

"Yet you came anyway" the man shook his head. "A sentimental breed, the Leaf ninja."

"It's gotten us pretty far…." Shikamaru argued.

"Far enough?" the man asked, walking around the table and returning to his seat. "War still rages on, people still fight, hate each other, commit acts of depravity and still lust for more, unsatisfied" he listed.

"So performing even greater crimes will make it all stop? Kidnapping and murdering Jinchuuriki, like Naruto can make it all better?" the clan heir scoffed.

"In the end, peace can only be attained after a crisis has been averted, where people can sit down to reflect on what they took for granted" the man grunted, allowing his hands to emerge from beneath the folds of his cloak. Resting his elbows on the table and steepling his fingers together, the man leaned in towards the center of the table and asked "What's the greatest crisis a person can undergo?"

Thinking, Shikamaru answered "War?"

"No, you think too small, dear boy. I forget that you're still a child" he sighed.

"Then what is it?" Shikamaru growled.

"Complete and utter despair, yeah" Deidara chuckled.

"Hopelessness" Kisame grinned.

"Simply put" the masked man elaborated. "The end of life as they know it, the helplessness that comes from losing one's will to fight. What drives a man to the brink of insanity? All of these things, boy. An earthshattering power that can drive the entire world into submission is what we need to do this…."

"You intend to rule the world?" Shikamaru finished.

"You still don't see the big picture, do you? Amidst all of this chaos, this fear, this helplessness, what would happen if the tyrant wielding such a weapon were defeated, killed?"

"I assume the people would be relieved, right?"

"That is correct. After bearing witness to such an overwhelming display of military might, and then seeing firsthand or being a victim of such doomsday device…." he trailed off.

Shikamaru's eyes widened in realization. "The people would do everything in their power to prevent such a thing from ever happening again" he breathed.

"Yes. Worldwide peace would no longer be a pipe dream. It would turn into a necessity. These efforts towards peace wouldn't be forced or false. True, genuine, heartfelt desires across the nation all focused on one thing…. an end to unnecessary suffering, is the goal of Akatsuki" the man declared.

"This is insane. How far are you willing to go, believing that the end justifies the means?" Shikamaru whispered.

"As far as I must, until the perfect world has been created" he answered, determination smoldering through in that one eye, boring into his mind.

"I…. I see."

"My name is Madara Uchiha, but you may call me Tobi" he spoke, rising from his seat. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Shikamaru. Shikamaru Nara" the boy sighed.

"Alright, Shikamaru" Tobi boomed, extending his hand towards the boy. "Instead of clinging to the selfish wishes of a safe haven for your village alone, how would you like to sell your soul to the devil, in order to destroy this old corrupt world and create one that our loved ones and the generations that follow will be able to live in without the threat of war?"

Images of his friends - of Chouji -, his family - the clan -, loved ones - blonde hair, blue eyes, dry sand - and those he swore to protect - Asuma's daughter - flashed before his eyes. He clasped the hand held out to him.

"Yes. I will forsake my ideals, to protect the people I care for."

* * *

Far away within the sand village, a woman polished a large metal fan while sitting on her bed, whistling a merry tune within her room. 'Can't wait to show this new move off to that bum' she mused. "He'll probably pee his pants!" she cackled. Behind her, a framed picture - of the girl grinning wildly with her arm slung over a grinning Shikamaru, both of them sporting obvious cuts and bruises - rested on the headboard.

Unbeknownst to her, a crack cut diagonally down and across the frame, right over the young man's form.

* * *

"Shikamaru has betrayed the clan, Shikaku" an aged man informed the Nara, both of them kneeling in front of each other within a relatively large room. Several Nara clan symbols adorned the ceiling and walls and the discussion being held was in full view of many other Nara clansmen within the room.

"I'm well aware of this, father" the Nara Patriarch responded dryly.

"I know that, but you refuse to acknowledge the gravity of this situation" the elderly man scolded.

"And how is that?"

"Your son has extensive knowledge of not only Konoha, but a variety of our clan's techniques. He must be hunted down and captured, or killed" the old man stressed.

"And why are you telling this to me?"

"You, are supposed to be pushing to have him tracked by the Anbu. Something you have the authority to suggest."

"I've already spoken with the Hokage and set up his bounty" Shikaku offered.

"You had a hand in that pathetic excuse of a wanted poster?" the older man growled. "You know more than any of us that he is one of the strongest Nara in the clan. His control over our jutsu can already match our veteran shinobi! Now you tell us that you hand a hand in that mockery!"

This outburst was joined by a few shouts of agreement from the crowd.

In the back, a young male Nara - around the age of twenty - smirked - as all Nara's seemed to enjoy - in satisfaction. 'Well this is certainly a pleasing turn of events' he thought. 'I may get that chance at the position of clan patriarch much sooner than I expected.'


	5. Revelations

"Wait a minute, yeah" Deidara stated, causing the group to look towards him.

"What is it, Deidara?" Kisame inquired.

Pointing at Shikamaru, he asked "why does he get to just be a part of the team" snapping his fingers "just like that, yeah?"

"He does have a point, Madara" Kisame agreed. "Usually you hold a test of some sort after scouting out a particularly noteworthy S-Rank, you know."

"Hmm" the masked man mused, stroking the bottom of his mask in contemplation. "This is true" he conceded. "I do appreciate your agreement with our cause, young Nara…. but your skills are still untested, in our eyes" he explained.

"I understand, Sir-"

"Please, call me Tobi."

"Tobi" Shikamaru allowed. "How may I prove myself?" he asked.

"Any suggestions" Tobi asked, turning towards his cloaked comrades.

"Well" Kisame began, showing off his razor sharp grin once more. "Akatsuki is known, first and foremost for the power that our members contain…. and we do have a few spots open."

"A public display of strength, then" the head of Akatsuki decided. "Shikamaru Nara…. I have a mission for you."

* * *

"This is interesting" Shikamaru noted, examining the cloak he'd been provided with. "I never thought these things were laced and woven with chakra threads" he admitted appreciatively.

"Given enough time, this thing could double the amount of chakra the wearer has…. Hell, it'd quadruple that amount if it soaked up enough" he thought aloud. "Akatsuki sure does have some top of the line resources, especially to just be throwing these things around…." the Nara trailed off.

"You're right about that, yeah" Deidara grumbled, "they don't come cheap, either." Then he crossed his arms, glaring at the Nara, "and if we're to believe what you told us back in Ame, you had a hand in killing our treasurer…. thanks for that, yeah."

"I won't apologize for avenging my sensei's death, if that's what you're hoping for" Shikamaru growled. "Besides, if I really have to take out this guy" he held up a picture of an undeniably muscular man with unkempt brown hair, staring impassively at the camera "Taichi Yamauchi, a member of the explosion core and worth a decent sixteen million ryo" he recited, reading information out of a page in an Akatsuki provided bingo book. "It's more than likely that Madara, ah, I mean Tobi…. plans on having me find some way to generate the funds Kakuzu usually came up with. How Troublesome…." he sighed.

"Ahh, the explosion core, yeah" Deidara grinned "good times, good times…. I could've sworn that I killed most of them, though" he reminisced. "Then again, Taichi always was a tough bastard, it won't be easy, killing him, yeah" the blonde nodded.

"Great, one of the land of Earth's most hated of missing Nin, is going to be my guide straight into Iwa itself" Shikamaru palmed his face. "How could this get to be any more troublesome?"

* * *

"Alright, the village is only a few miles away" Deidara informed him. "Getting in will be tough, yeah."

"Too true" Shikamaru agreed. "Does it matter, how I kill this guy?" he asked.

"So long as you get his corpse here for me to identify & confirm…. no, yeah" the blonde shrugged.

"…. Was that a no…. or a yes?" the Nara smirked.

"Did you not just hear me say no…. yeah?" Deidara growled.

"Make up your mind, will you?" Shikamaru chuckled. "I don't have all day, you know."

"You'll be dead in a few seconds! Then you'll have all the time in the world, yeah!"

"I see, it does matter how I kill him?"

"No!"

"How troublesome, you can turn the impediment off, I guess."

"You bastard, yeah!" the blonde shrieked, reaching into the folds on both sides of his coat. "I'm your sempai & yet you go out of your way to piss me off, yeah!"

"Sorry?"

"Like I care!" the enraged man declared. "If you so much as blink at me the wrong way, there will be hell to pay, yeah" he seethed.

"Fine, fine" Shikamaru sighed. "Don't be so troublesome, I've only got one question to ask, now."

"…. What?"

"So, are you just physically unable to say no or som-"

"Die!" Deidara shrieked, tossing two small white clay sculptures of some type of bird at the chuckling teen.

"What the hell?" Shikamaru murmured as he sidestepped them, watching as they suddenly sprang to life and began flapping. "Well, that's interesting, but aren't they supposed to explode?" Shikamaru enquired.

"Don't worry about it, yeah" Deidara ensured him, calm once again. The two birds were enveloped in an eruption of smoke, startling Shikamaru. "Now hop on the other one" he commanded, walking towards one of the now enlarged creations and climbing onto it's back.

Figuring it'd be best not to anger the man any farther, Shikamaru did as he was told.

* * *

Speeding through the air towards the rock and stone buildings of Iwagakure with no indication of slowing down, all Shikamaru could do was stare at his blonde haired companion in fear. "Deidara, what are you planning?"

The man grinned, Shikamaru's heart sank.

"I've decided to change your test, yeah."

"Is, is that so?" the Nara stuttered.

"Yep, your new test is…." They drew closer to the village "to make it out of here alive, yeah!" he declared, his own mount spreading it's wings and soaring upwards while Shikamaru's dove into the center of the village.

'This is for pissing off my temporary partner, I guess' the Nara inwardly groaned, jumping off of the creature and tumbling across the roof of a nearby building as the bird slammed into the ground and exploded in a crowded street. A building was leveled, a few vending stalls were destroyed and a crater remained, charred bodies strewn about as the pedestrians ran about, screaming and in a panic about unexpected acts of terrorism.

Becoming aware of multiple surges of chakra nearby, Shikamaru felt it best to leave as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, he was already surrounded by three shinobi as soon as he stood to his feet. 'Way to screw me over, Deidara' he sighed. 'Now, how do I get out of this?' he mused, eying the man and woman in front of him, then looking behind him to see 'Taichi Yamauchi? Talk about a silver lining' Shikamaru thought, a smirk on his face.

"What are you smiling about, Akatsuki scum!" the other man roared.

"Don't worry about it, I can't fight all of you at once, so I surrender" he sighed raising his arms and dropping a flash grenade.

The man and Taichi dove towards Shikamaru, moments before the light went off, the woman leaped backwards.

While Taichi managed to sidestep a tendril of sharpened shadow, even through the burst of light, his companion, blinded, found a similar one buried in his throat. "Damn you!" he exclaimed, rearing his fist back then finding himself unable to move. "What is this?!"

The woman found herself in a similar position, when a trench knife embedded itself into the floor nearby the woman, where her shadow happened to be. "This isn't good" she observed.

"Well then" Shikamaru clapped, forcing Taichi to clap as well, "that was a lot less troublesome than I expected it to be" he drawled. "But" he drew a kunai from the folds of his coat while the captured man seemed to just grasp a bit of air "I really have to get going" and swiftly slit his target's throat twice.

"Taichi!" the woman shrieked as his body fell to the ground after Shikamaru released the jutsu. She was forced to watch as he calmly replaced the kunai, produced a scroll and unceremoniously stuffed Yamauchi's body into it before turning to her.

"Now, what to do with you?" Shikamaru mused aloud.

"You had better kill me now, or I swear, I-"

"Will hunt me down to the ends of the earth, devote your life to finding and killing me as well as all I know and love, etcetera, etcetera?" Shikamaru interrupted. "As if I haven't heard a death threat before" Shikamaru scoffed.

"You worthless piece of trash!" she roared "I will kill you!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't be so loud…. troublesome woman" Shikamaru muttered, performing a few hand seals and then placing his hands on her forehead, causing her eyes to close. Removing the trench knife from her shadow, and watching her collapse to the ground in an unconscious heap, Shikamaru sighed "consider yourself lucky that I'm a man of principle…. and that you weren't much of a threat" he added.

A few more chakra signatures made themselves known. 'And that's the cue to make myself scarce' he thought, preparing another jutsu.

Out of the blue, a body literally came flying at him, planting a foot into his side and sending Shikamaru hurtling off of the roof. Thankfully, Shikamaru managed to right himself and landed relatively unharmed onto the street below. 'The hell was that?' he thought, sprinting into a nearby alley and searching for any close chakra signatures. 'How can someone fly around and still manage to suppress their chakra enough to escape detection?' his mind raced.

Sensing something from above, the Nara leapt back, avoiding a large ball of hardened mud, destroying a portion of the ground as it hit, blowing a cloud of dust into the air, temporarily obscuring Shikamaru's vision.

"Drat" a feminine voice exclaimed. "And here I thought brother Deidara had come back to visit" the voice sighed.

As the dust cleared, Shikamaru took notice of short black hair, pink eyes, standard one sleeved Iwa shinobi attire, fingerless black gloves and - he groaned - a pair of firm breasts. 'Damnit, not more women' the Nara sighed. "How troublesome."

"Yeah, I'm annoyed too, buddy" the woman offered, her arms crossed. "I know I saw one of Dei's little 'Art' things, so you have to know where he is" she deduced.

"Yeah, what of it?" Shikamaru agreed.

"How about we make a deal?" she suggested.

"I'm listening."

"If you tell me where he is…."

"You'll let me walk out of here?"

"Oh, of course not" the woman chuckled, waving Shikamaru's suggestion off. "I'll just make sure you don't die too painfully."

"Yeah, thanks, but no thanks" Shikamaru sighed.

"Oh well, I'll just have to find brother Deidara later" she shrugged. "That hairstyle tells me that you're a Nara…. And the recent additions to the bingo book tell me that you're name's Shikamaru, am I right?" she surmised.

"I'm impressed" Shikamaru grinned, despite himself. "I guess it'd be a bad idea to take you lightly, then" he commented, brandishing a kunai.

"Nope, that wouldn't be the smartest move" she agreed, drawing a short sword.

The two eyed each other from across the crater, then sprang from wall to wall, flashing through hand seals as they rose. 'Since earth is the predominant style of this village, I should probably stay away from the water jutsu' Shikamaru decided, releasing two balls of flame from his mouth as he landed on the roof. 'Fireball jutsu'

Unfortunately, the kunoichi - who landed atop the roof at the same time as Shikamaru - launched a jet of water from her mouth, cutting through both fireballs and nearly decapitating Shikamaru, who just barely avoided the attack.

Unbalanced, the Nara was only able to desperately parry the flurry of blows the kunoichi rained upon him with her blade, eventually disarming him and kicking him to the ground. Desperately needing to bring space between them, Shikamaru drew a tag from his cloak and detonated it in a burst of chakra sharpened wind, throwing himself and his assailant off of the roof in opposite directions.

Now sporting several cuts and bruises from his escape attempt, Shikamaru hit the ground running, his decision on how to get out of the village - alive - already set in motion as he executed the Shadow clone jutsu, creating two perfect copies of himself while he transformed into the now deceased Taichi Yamauchi.

While the first clone headed towards the outskirts of the village on foot, the disguised Shikamaru and his other clone tossed shuriken at each other 'since I can't use any of this guy's exploding techniques & my clones can't fight at the same level I can, we'll have to recreate a long distance fight…. and here come the exploding kunai' he mused, dodging the weapon before it could cause any damage as it detonated.

"Taichi, duck!" a familiar voice commanded, so Shikamaru did as he was told, rolling to the floor and seeing the woman he'd just attempted to escape from, - sporting a few cuts from his hasty retreat as well - expel a large thick glob of white from her mouth and then perform a few more seals to spray it with the water jutsu from before, causing the glob to expand and cover a wider area, making it impossible for his clone to dodge. When it hit, the force of the attack was strong enough to propel the clone into a wall as the material covered it, then hardened, effectively gluing his clone - upside down - to the wall.

'Not good, that was a Lava release, technique. Not many people from the land of earth can perform that. Add that to the fact that she also used water jutsu, and a sword with ease, extremely skilled…. she has to be one of the Tsuchikage's two bodyguards' "Kurotsuchi!" the disguised Nara called, hoping that wasn't the woman's name.

"Yeah, what is it, Taichi?" she asked, walking towards him.

'Troublesome, this chick is at the same level as my dad' "This guy made a shadow clone of himself when I caught sight of him, so I don't know if this is the real one or not" he explained, jumping and landing on the side of wall where his clone feebly struggled to escape. "Let's test our luck" he announced, knowing what would happen as Kurotsuchi landed beside him. He kicked the clone in the head - a little harder than he would have liked - and watched as it dispersed in a puff of smoke. "Damn, I got the wrong one" he cursed. 'And It seems that this jutsu is even sturdier than it looks, breaking out will be tough' he gleaned from the experience his dispelled shadow clone sent him.

"Don't worry about it, Tai" the woman offered, "he can't hide forever" she assured him. "Whatever it is he set out to do, will not succeed" she declared.

"And I'm going to help make sure of it. I will not let the Akatsuki get away with doing whatever it is they want" Shikamaru-Taichi vowed. "This will be a message to Deidara, too" he added, playing off of what he learned from the blonde haired Akatsuki member.

"You still hold a grudge against brother Deidara?" the kunoichi sighed.

"What do you think?" Shikamaru asked, playing it safe. "I'll search in this direction, next" he told her, pointing in a direction that lead out of the village in a different direction from his clone, that appeared to - surprisingly - still be alive. "We'd probably find him faster by splitting up, too. So I'll tell you if I manage to find anything out later, alright?"

"Agreed" Kurotsuchi nodded, "we'll meet back up, here, in five hours' time, if we don't discover anything."

"Alright" and with that, both leaped away in opposite directions.

* * *

Along the way, Shikamaru did run into a few other passing patrols of ninja, but was able to talk his way out of any confrontations.

After making his way a few miles out of the village, Shikamaru dispersed the transformation, taking on his own bruised and cut appearance. "Deidara, you bastard, I'm ready to leave" he called.

From the tree cover, a small bird flew at him, drawing the sword at his side, the blade crackled with electricity as Shikamaru cleaved it in two, nullifying the chakra within and cancelling out the jutsu.

"Well that's no fun, yeah" Deidara whined, hopping down from the cover of one of the trees. "I will admit, I heard the commotion & am impressed that you managed to survive, yeah."

"Surprisingly, it's somewhat thanks to you, too" Shikamaru sighed, walking down the road away from the village.

"How is that, yeah?" Deidara asked, curious.

* * *

"I'm really starting to like you, brat, yeah" Deidara chuckled. "Surviving a fight with Kurotsuchi, who's grown pretty strong I hear, yeah" Deidara recalled, "then tricking her into going elsewhere while you escaped, classic, yeah."

"Don't forget, I also got Yamauchi" Shikamaru reminded him.

"The boss man'll be really impressed, I bet, yeah" Deidara observed.

"I hope so, cause I can't take another troublesome test like that" Shikamaru sighed.

"Don't worry about it, you'll be getting your 'welcome to the club' ring, without a doubt, yeah" Deidara assured him. "I just wonder who your partner will be, yeah."

"We don't get to choose?"

"Of course you don't, yeah" Deidara snapped. "Boss man decides who has techniques that would complement their partner's & sometimes, if the mission we're given isn't too dangerous or important, then he'll switch us around to 'build team relations' or whatever" Deidara shrugged.

"Do I get to meet the other members at some point?"

"Yeah, we have to introduce you to the others after you've become an official member."

"Hey, do you know where the bounty collection stations are, in the Land of Earth?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hmm, I'm pretty sure there's one relatively close to us, at the top of one of these mountains, I think, yeah" Deidara remarked, peering at a few of the mountains surrounding them.

"I guess it's time to start searching, then" Shikamaru resigned himself, trudging in the direction of the most obscure mountain he could spot.

"Don't those scrolls of yours preserve the bodies, yeah?"

"They do, but I'm not too keen on walking around with a scroll full of bodies."

"That's understandable, yeah" Deidara allowed, following after the Nara. "Now let's make this quick, yeah. I didn't get to do any fighting of my own on this mission."

* * *

Four mountains later, they found the entrance to a collection station, an ominous cave in the side of mountain, where people could be sensed inside.

"Well, hurry up. We don't have time to waste, yeah!"

"I'm going, I'm going…. you harpy" Shikamaru muttered, walking into the cave.

Enveloped in darkness, Shikamaru felt his way along the side, until he stood face to face with a dead end, but still sensing people. "There has to be a switch or something over here" the Nara muttered, groping along the jagged wall until he eventually pushed a piece of the wall that felt smoother than it should have been. Immediately, the sound of machinery at work could be heard, and a section of the wall slid back a few inches, before sliding to the side, allowing a dull light to shine through as the hidden door slowly slid open, releasing a cold breeze. Stepping inside, Shikamaru took note of the drastic drop in temperature and the man seated in the far back, calmly reading at a desk as a lamp brightened the pages.

As Shikamaru walked further inside - his footsteps echoing inside the deceptively large room -, ceiling lights began to flicker on, illuminating the stone room and the rows upon rows of refrigeration units within.

"Here to collect a reward?" the man at the desk asked, closing his book and standing up to walk towards Shikamaru.

"Yeah" Shikamaru answered, removing a scroll from his cloak.

"It's been awhile since I've done business with any of you Akatsuki types" the man remarked.

"That's about to change" Shikamaru promised, taking note of the - much older - man's appearance as he came closer.

The man had to be in his sixties or older, the Nara deduced, taking in the various wrinkles adorning his face behind his thick square glasses, the slow but steady gait he moved with and the apparent age in his voice. Wearing a plaid sweater, dark pants and a pair of black boots, his taste in clothing seemed to be rather dated as well. The wisps of gray hair atop the elder's balding head were a bit of a giveaway as well.

"Is that right?" the old man laughed hoarsely. "From what I've been hearing, your group has been dying left and right."

"That's their fault for being unskilled" Shikamaru replied. "Now, let's talk business."

"Right to the point" the elder approved, "I must say that I'm impressed, no boasting over your kills?"

"I have nothing to prove, I'm just here to make a profit."

"That was a relatively mature answer…. I like that" he man complimented. "Well, show me who you bagged" he instructed, moving towards the slots.

"Alright" Shikamaru reached into the scroll and fished around for a moment, before grasping onto something and pulling. A head came into view first, the rest of the body followed.

"Oh, if it isn't Taichi Yamauchi" the man commented as he opened one of the slots. "His bounty was raised to twenty million, not even a week ago." With the refrigeration unit fully opened, he motioned for the Nara to place the body inside. "Is that all?"

"No, I've got this guy, too" Shikamaru explained, pulling the other corpse from his scroll.

"Well isn't this a surprise" the elder whistled. "I never expected one of the seven swordsmen to be presented to me…. my, my" he muttered.

"Ryou Takahashi. I saw his face in the bingo book, but I forgot how much he was worth" Shikamaru mentioned.

"Come with me, come with me" the old man gestured to his desk. "You don't know how much joy you've brought back into my life, bringing such a legendary catch my way" he gushed, picking his book up and opening to show that it was the most recent bounty book.

"Let's see, these things are updated every time you close them" the man explained. "The benefit of really complex jutsu, I suppose" he commented, flipping through the pages. "Here we go, Ryou Takashi, wielder of the Kiba, yadda yadda…. Whoa" he breathed.

"What's up?"

Tis man is worth a nice thirty million ryo, my boy. Most people don't even bother going after the big bounties, these days" the man sighed wistfully. "But enough of that, you just made fifty million ryo, just let me mark these two as caught" he murmured, writing in the book. Then he walked over to the wall, after setting the book down and began pushing a few stones. No longer surprised, Shikamaru calmly watched as a small safe-sized portion of the wall slid open and the man began softly counting to himself.

'Wow, fifty million ryo' Shikamaru inwardly grinned, placing the corpse inside of another slot. 'I can get a few supplies of my own, with this. And maybe if I give the rest to Madara, he'll show me where he gets these special items, made' he pondered.

"Alright! Fifty Million ryo" the older man announced, gesturing at his desk, covered in stacks of bills. "And" he bent down to retrieve something from beneath his desk, seemingly filled with energy, "here's a complimentary briefcase!" he declared, emerging with a sleek black attaché case.

Shikamaru took the 'gift' with more than a little shame, dread forming in the pit of his stomach and realization slowly dawned upon him as he placed the money within the case. Hadn't he seen Kakuzu walking around with one of these, during their encounters?

"Don't hesitate to come back, if you catch another bounty, alright?" the old man told him. "By the way, my name's Gorou" he introduced himself, as Shikamaru left.

"You can call me Shikamaru, then" Shikamaru replied, giving a lethargic wave over his shoulder as he exit the hidden station with his new suitcase full of cash.

* * *

"The hell took you so long, yeah!" Deidara ranted when Shikamaru made his out of the cave. "I almost left your sorry ass, I got so bored of waiting."

"Well, thanks for not?" Shikamaru offered, not even attempting to pretend that he cared.

"Whatever, you brat. We're heading back now, so pick up the pace, yeah" he commanded.

"But, I'm so tired" Shikamaru groaned.

"And I'll be damned if start to care, yeah!" Deidara walked off.

"You're so cruel" Shikamaru whined, walking after him.

* * *

"What's up, pops?" Naruto called, bursting into the Hokage's office after a messenger came to get him.

"This concerns Shikamaru" Minato replied, his face grave.

"What happened? Did somebody find him, is he in trouble?" Naruto asked, worried.

"In a nutshell…. We've received word that Shikamaru has joined Akatsuki" Minato answered, direct and to the point.

"…. What?"

"You heard me, Naruto!" the Hokage roared.

"This is a joke, or whoever told you is pulling your leg" Naruto began, shaking his head in denial.

"This is a statement from the Tsuchikage himself, son" Minato sighed. "While that man may be many things - a two faced scoundrel, that would do any deed for his village, among other things - he has no reason to lie, when it comes to his village being attacked four days ago" he explained.

"This is ridiculous" Naruto breathed, slumping into one of the seats in front of the Hokage's desk. "Why would Shika assault an entire hidden village?"

"To mark his debut as Akatsuki's newest member" Minato supplied. "It's what they do, making a statement as to the capabilities their members hold, as well as an initiation, of sorts. Apparently, he passed."

"Joined Akatsuki" Naruto repeated. "After all they've done. Taking Asuma away from Kurenai, from team ten and from him. Destroying the village. What they did to…. to Jaraiya, taking him away from granny."

"I know, Naruto. But he killed two of their shinobi as well as placed a third into a coma" Minato informed him. "A few civilians were killed as well, during his entrance. He's declared his allegiance, and the land of Earth has raised his bounty to twenty five million ryo."

"And by joining Akatsuki, he's become an S-Ranked criminal, an enemy to most of the Shinobi nations" Naruto sighed. "He's become Konoha's enemy…. our enemy."

"Yes, he has" Minato solemnly agreed. "I've already told Shikaku" he looked down, somber. "He will inform most of the jounin and have the bingo book updated. I need you to send Ino and Chouji here, alright?"

"It's fine, dad. I'll tell those two, myself" Naruto decided.

"You don't have to do that, Naruto."

"But it's for the best, that I do" Naruto resolved, silently moving to his feet and leaving, his cheer lost.

Minato could only shake his head sadly. 'The path to Hokage is fraught with more than just physical pain.'

* * *

"A job well done, Shikamaru" the masked Uchiha applauded.

"Thank you, Tobi" Shikamaru bowed, once again in the meeting room within Ame.

"Hey! I don't get a thanks for all of the assistance I gave, yeah!" Deidara growled.

"You tried to make things even more difficult, don't be troublesome about it. Now I'm probably wanted by the land of Earth" Shikamaru argued.

"That no longer matters, now" Madara announced. "It is my pleasure to officially welcome you into the upper ranks of the Akatsuki" he declared with a grand sweep of his hands.

"It's an honor to be here" Shikamaru replied. "However, what exactly can I do, to advance the organization's goals?" he asked.

"As you know, our main objective, at the moment, is to gather up the tailed beasts, correct?"

"Yeah, to make this 'super weapon' you spoke of before?"

"That is correct-"

"But why do the carriers have to die? Couldn't you find a way to make the extraction harmless?"

"I see, you have much to learn about our methods" Madara sighed, standing. "Deidara, your mission has been completed, I'll contact you with your next assignment when Youko returns."

"Alright, I'll see you when the introductions begin, yeah" and with that, Deidara left.

"Youko?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Deidara's partner. She left to do some business of her own, after I called Deidara here for that meeting" Tobi explained.

"Oh, I forget that I've only met two members…. that are still alive" Shikamaru muttered.

"Despite what you may think, Akatsuki still functions as if it were a shinobi village. However, the majority of missions that we are employed with are practically guaranteed high risk assignments."

"I see, how are missions classified here, then?"

"Let's just say that, your typical B or A rank assassination mission in Konoha, is a commonplace D or C, here."

"Ah, that put things in…. perspective" Shikamaru sighed.

"But enough of that" Madara concluded. "I will show you to your quarters" he rose, ordering Shikamaru to follow him out of the room and into the elevator. "As I'm sure you've noticed, this tower is relatively large" he began. "However, this is but one fifth of the building. You could call it the reception area, since this is where we meet clients and entertain guests."

"Then I'd assume that the rest of this facility is underground?" Shikamaru hazarded.

"That is correct" Madara agreed. Turning to the back of the elevator and performing a few seals. There, another panel of buttons appeared, with a noticeably smaller amount of floors than the one in front.

"If the underground section is so much larger, why are there only" he paused to count, "seven floors?"

"A small amount of exploring on your own will give you the answer" Madara answered. "You have full permission to roam this entire building and the surrounding countries at your leisure" he informed the Nara. "However, should you be on a mission" his voice grew even more serious, "your objective comes first and foremost, unless you deem the client to have malicious purposes in store for the organization. In which case it is your right to execute him for the good of Akatsuki" his tone went back to it's normal gravity. "Understood?"

Shikamaru shivered, "yes, sir." A thought came to mind. "How are you supposed to contact me, should I happen to be in a different country, though?"

'_Like this_' the response came reverberating through his head so suddenly that Shikamaru stumbled a few paces backwards.

"I-I see" Shikamaru stuttered.

"As I was saying, your room, and the rooms of your fellow agents are on the first floor. You have your pick of whichever room you want, so long as it hasn't been claimed."

"Is anyone else here, aside from you, me and Deidara?"

"No the others are either on missions, or out exploring. You will meet all of them, come next week."

"Alright, do I get to pick my room now?"

"No. There is one thing that I have to show you, personally" the ancient Uchiha announced, pushing the seventh button.

* * *

"This can't be happening" Chouji groaned, falling to his knees in disbelief.

"I had trouble believing it too" Naruto spoke, voice barely above a whisper. Having brought the two remaining members of team ten to their training grounds, he informed them of Shikamaru's misdeeds.

"What does this mean?" Ino sobbed. "How could he just side with those monsters?" she screeched, clutching her head in her hands as she kneelt in the grass.

"It means" Chouji growled, his hands balling into fists "that Shikamaru made a really stupid mistake…. One we can't fix."

* * *

"So, Nara has officially become our enemy, then?" Neji sighed as he and the rest of the 'Konoha Twelve' - sans team ten - perused Shikamaru's new bingo book entry.

"Twenty five million" Kiba whistled, "and an S-Rank to boot."

"Shikamaru's been hiding a few more tricks from us" Sai mused.

"No, we've just never actually been on the opposite side of a fight with him" Shino mused.

"Attacking an entire ninja village is pretty bold, though" Tenten announced.

"This has really gotten out of hand" Sakura groaned. "Hinata is probably going to feel even guiltier at having Shikamaru escape" she predicted.

"She's on a mission with Lee and some other guy" Kiba answered. "So she'll probably get here and find out tomorrow."

"Long story short…. Shikamaru's screwed" Sasuke surmised. "Hey" he looked towards the gloomy Naruto "you're the one that called us here, what's your take on this?"

"This…. This is usually something we'd go to Shikamaru for, you know" the usually cheerful boy chuckled weakly. "And, really, we should have Ino and Chouji here, to finalize what we do about-"

"Damnit, you idiot!" Sasuke roared, grabbing Naruto by the collar. "Shikamaru joined up with the freaking Akatsuki" he hissed, shaking the boy occasionally, to emphasize his point. "The people that have made it their goal to kill you and everyone like you!" he bellowed, dropping Naruto to the ground. "I know how close Shikamaru is to all of us, but we can't just ignore it" Sasuke seethed. "So here's what I know that I'm going to do, should we happen to cross paths."

Drawing his restored Kusanagi, he declared "I'm going to punch that bastard in the face and ask him what the hell he thinks he's doing" his Sharingan activated of it's own accord, "and if I don't like his answer…." he trailed off, allowing a surge of lightning to travel across his blade, a deadly promise for all to witness, before swiftly sheathing the sword and deactivating his Sharingan. "It's time to make your own decisions" he called, walking away from the training grounds.

"Sasuke has a point" Shino observed. "I have no problem admitting that, I may have relied on Shikamaru to push me in a particular direction, when I struggled with a few choices of my own." He looked towards Naruto "I understand, that Shikamaru may have been one of the people that supported you the most…. but now, it would appear that he is no longer on our side."

"Damn, Naruto just got one of Shino's patented motivational speeches" Kiba whispered to Neji.

"This is the most I've ever heard him speak, at one time" Neji whispered back, despite himself.

"I get it!" Naruto shouted, surging to his feet. "Shikamaru isn't on our side anymore, he's the enemy now. When we might, it probably won't be to chat about our goals or just cloud watch and do nothing, like we used to…." he trailed off. "But, is it wrong, to still think of him as my friend, despite all of this?"

No one could respond to this.

"Of course it isn't!" Chouji exclaimed from atop a hill overlooking the meeting. Striding down to face his peers, he declared "I refuse to just label Shikamaru as an enemy, just like that. Not until I speak to him, one on one" his fists clenched, "friend to friend. So that he can tell me to my face, what he's planning, like he always has, for better or worse!" he declared. "He'd do the same for me, I know it!"

"Then I've decided, as well!" Naruto proclaimed to the rest. "I'm not giving up on Shikamaru either, not until he tells me to my face, that he no longer believes in me, in Konoha!" Looking towards where Sasuke left, he thought to himself 'that's probably what Sasuke meant, too' he resolved.

* * *

"What the hell?" Shikamaru exhaled, staring at the large Statue before him. While it appeared humanoid, the nine eyes - four of which were closed - and odd rod-like protrusions coming from it's back only served to make the thing look grotesque, on both knees with it's arms seemingly bound in shackles.

"Welcome to the hall of beasts" Madara announced. "This is where we store the extracted Tailed Beasts."

"And, how many do you have, so far?" Shikamaru whispered, still awed by the statue.

"So far, we have five of them."

"Then, an eye opens after each one is sealed?"

"How observant of you" Madara confirmed. "However, what I wanted to show you, lies beyond this room" he claimed, moving into the room, past the two large statues of a left and right hand performing a seal on either side of the gargantuan. There, beside the statue, was a closed, nondescript door.

Opening the door, Shikamaru beheld nine large tanks, filled with a strange bubbling liquid. What caught his eye, was the fact that four of the tanks housed an inhabitant, various wires and tubes were connected to them as well while they floated, suspended in the liquid as if they were merely sleeping. Shikamaru became dimly aware of the sounds of beeping, and noticed monitors next to the tanks, displaying various readings. All of them indicated one thing….

"The Jinchuuriki are still alive?"


	6. Cafe 'Cait Sith'

"So" Shikamaru drawled, trying to grasp the situation, "I was under the impression that the Jinchuuriki who had their beasts extracted, died" he drawled. "Care to elaborate on why that apparently isn't so?"

"But of course" Madara chuckled at the Nara's attempts to compose himself. "The Jinchuuriki are both a failsafe and the people that have been chosen to carry out the final phase of our plans" he began.

"And, how are they supposed to do that?"

"Simply figuring out how to locate and identify one of the tailed beasts is a daunting task on its own. The methods used to capture and seal one of the creatures into an acceptable vessel took countless years of trial and error, as well as the fact that each village in possession of a beast used a different variation of the sealing method" Madara informed him.

""Exactly how many years are we talking about?"

"That is irrelevant" the masked man immediately replied. "Through this extensive research, I came across a person in possession of god-like abilities and an artifact that could aid me in extracting the demons" he continued. "Unfortunately, he fell at the hands of your comrades, the Konoha ninja-"

"Probably former comrades, at this point" Shikamaru corrected.

"That, is more than likely" Madara greed. "Naruto has grown powerful, to be able to defeat Pein" he announced.

"He did have help, you know, two of the bodies were incapacitated, and another was severely wounded" the Nara recounted. "Although, with that sage mode of his, Naruto did still take on three of the bodies at relatively full power" he mused. "If Minato wasn't there…." he trailed off.

"Already plotting a way to weaken Konoha?"

"I've already told you" Shikamaru snapped. "I will not harm my countrymen, regardless of what your orders may be. That was my condition, seeing as how an alliance would be counterproductive" he reminded the man. "Anyway, you still haven't answered my question."

The ancient Uchiha sighed, mumbling "children these days are so impatient and serious" before replying "very well, it seems that you don't care much about the history." Gesturing outwards in a wide arc, he spoke "this is the culmination of all of that research, a way to extract the beasts from their containers, non-lethally."

"That's nice and all, but how are these people -no longer Jinchuuriki - involved, now?"

"A side effect of the extraction, is the fact that they are still linked to their chosen beast, their deaths would also kill their respective demon, dispersing it into the wild until it can reform, decades later."

"And we don't want that?"

"No, we do not. After all of the beasts have been extracted, the weapon can then be unleashed. However, it will be extremely unstable-"

"Which is where these guys come in?"

"Precisely. Upon their awakening, the extraction process will automatically reverse itself, re-implanting them with their former tenants and thus rendering our secret weapon, impotent. All that remains after that, is for the nations to band together and eliminate whatever remains of us…."

"That is rather, morbid" Shikamaru shrugged, "even having our demise set up as a necessary factor". "But, I suppose we'll need to be removed in order for this plan of yours to be completed" he sighed. "By the way, what exactly is this 'secret weapon' anyway?" the Nara inquired.

"Ah, that is to be revealed only upon the sealing of the final Jinchuuriki" he replied. "However, it has been dubbed, 'the Ten Tails'."

* * *

Returning to the living quarter's floor with Tobi, Shikamaru asked "In regards to the missions we receive, are we given a certain number of them, or are all of them based upon our individual capabilities?"

"In all truth, groups are assigned the primary goal of hunting down a Jinchuuriki and completing enough missions to match your monthly quota" the masked man explained.

"Monthly Quota?" Shikamaru replied, perplexed.

"Each member is required to generate a certain amount of funds by the end of each month, which is why a few of our members don't leave headquarters very often. However, you are allowed to bring in extra funds through other means, and as such, you don't have to be holed up in Ame, waiting for a mission to come in" he clarified. "For example, Kakuzu, through his bounties, was usually able to provide his funds months ahead of time…. One time, he actually made enough to vacation for a whole two years" he reminisced, chuckling to himself from behind the orange mask.

What would have been a somewhat comical sight, had Shikamaru been anywhere else.

"However you may be called upon regardless, in the event of a mission or event that specifically requires your relatively…. subtle, skill set" the man added.

The elevator dinged, informing them that underground floor one had been reached.

"If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to talk to me" Tobi offered, dismissing Shikamaru as the Nara stepped out.

"This is the last one."

"Yes?"

"How much do I need, to cover a month? And who do I give the money to?"

"Thirty Million ryo is what you need to make, monthly. You can either hand your payments over to our lovely receptionist, Kimiko, or present it to me, personally" he answered. With that said, he waved his hand in farewell, and the elevator closed, leaving Shikamaru to find a room.

* * *

The day after Hinata returned to the village from her mission, she was not pleased to find that Shikamaru had taken up with Akatsuki. Kiba and Shino had been chosen to apprise her of the situation, since they were scheduled to spar and practice with her today, anyway.

Not known for his tact, Kiba chose the direct approach.

"Hey Hinata!" Kiba called, waving to the heiress as she approached the training grounds. Shino merely nodded in greeting while Akamaru happily welcomed her.

"Hello Kiba, Shino" Hinata returned the greeting.

Akamaru barked indignantly.

"And hello to you too, Akamaru" the woman smiled, scratching the dog behind his ears.

"Oh yeah, Hinata." Kiba called, gaining her attention. "Guess what Shikamaru did."

"What, Shikamaru was sighted?"

"Oh, he was seen alright" Kiba frowned, crossing his arms.

"Did something happen?" Hinata asked, worry beginning to creep into the pit of her stomach. "Was he captured, did he get hurt?"

"It probably would've been better if he had" the wolf-boy began, before Shino could attempt to stop him. "Apparently, he assaulted Iwagakure and then just snuck right out, as if nothing happened. And then, it turns out he's also joined up with Akatsuki with his new, twenty five million ryo bounty!" he huffed. "That idiot is getting into some serious trouble already."

Shino, knowing that there was no way to fix this, backed up slowly. Akamaru, being as alert as he was, sensed the anger coming off of the petite woman in waves, and followed the bug user.

Frustrated and under the impression that her friend seemed to be -not so subtly- accusing her for Shikamaru's growing list of misdeeds, Hinata vowed to grow stronger, right then and there. Shikamaru would be stopped, no matter what.

Her teammates bore witness to the rare - and highly aggressive - angry Hinata, for the third time in their short lives. Training, for team ten, was not fun, or safe. None left without bruises.

"You could've handled that better" Shino admonished his companion as they attempted to avoid Hinata's attacks.

"What? But look at how motivated Hinata is!" Kiba defended himself.

"This is motivat-"

"Don't be distracted!" Hinata commanded, appearing behind the Aburame and disabling the rest of his arm before he leapt away. She then turned her assault towards Kiba.

'Next time, maybe I should do the talking' Shino mused. As if adding his mind, Akamaru barked in what seemed to be assent, or perhaps it was a laugh as he watched his owner remind himself why the Hyuuga were not to be recklessly engaged in close combat.

* * *

"Alright, how to go about beating Shikamaru" Choji mused, laying beneath the oak tree that he and Shikamaru usually frequented. "Well, first you have to surprise him" he began. "To do that, you have to make sure that he doesn't know the extent of your techniques and abilities" he sighed. "Unfortunately, he knows all of mine & I know his…. unless he learns something new, which he probably will" Choji grumbled. "Well that settles it" the hefty teen decided, moving to his feet.

"I need to learn some jutsu that Shika hasn't seen yet" he nodded. His stomach growled, protesting. "But first, food!" he declared.

"You also need to stop talking to yourself" Ino called from above him, sitting on a branch.

"I was just making sure you got all of that" Choji lied, slightly embarrassed that he hadn't sensed her.

"Sure you were" the blonde chuckled. "We can train together, after lunch, right?" she asked, soundlessly dropping to the ground beside her friend.

"You bet" the brown haired boy agreed. "We'll both get Shikamaru back, without a doubt."

"He'll probably be too lazy to put up much of a fight, anyway" Ino giggled, willing to believe, just for a moment, that it really would be easy to bring their friend back home.

* * *

"Well, this isn't too bad" Shikamaru noted, having chosen the first unclaimed room he could find. It just so happened to be the first door on the left, closest to the elevator. The room had been empty, save for a large mattress in the corner of the room, devoid of any sheets or comforters. The walls and floor were made of the same gray metals that the tower aboveground consisted of. The room was also very spacious, connecting to a door that he assumed led to his own bathroom.

"Great, I guess I'll have to furnish this myself" Shikamaru sighed, looking the room over once more. "After a nap" he added.

Heading towards the bed, he was interrupted by the sound of a pair of footsteps stopping outside of the door and then three swift knocks on the door. Sighing again, Shikamaru called "the door's open" from his seat on the bed.

The door slid open silently, and in walked a noticeably uncertain Yuuto. "Hello, Lord Shikamaru" he greeted, bowing.

Sensing the fear radiating off of the man, Shikamaru had to ask "What's wrong, Yuuto?"

"I-" here he hesitated, "were you really, fully prepared to detonate an explosive from inside of me?" he asked.

Understanding dawned on the Nara, and he chuckled for a moment.

"This isn't funny!" the slightly less subdued man growled, forgetting his fear for a moment. "My life is a joke, then?" he asked, somber.

"No, that isn't what I'm saying" Shikamaru attempted to explain, his laughter dying down. "I just gambled on your reaction, is all. I pulled off a major bluff, thanks to you" he told the man, serious once more. "You were never in any danger."

"Why couldn't you have just told me?" Yuuto sighed, relieved that his life wasn't in jeopardy at the time. "I could've played along."

"No, only a true, honest reaction would've worked. Or I would have died."

"If you say so, Shikamaru" Yuuto replied, cheerful once more. "Well, thanks for clearing things up for me" and with that, he headed for the door.

"Ah, Yuuto, I have a question for you, now" Shikamaru called.

"What's up?"

Gesturing towards the room in general "do you know where I'd go to find furnishings for this room?"

"Sure, just follow me" Yuuto offered. "I'll take you to where I went, to spruce up my apartment."

'I'll have to nap some other time, I suppose' Shikamaru inwardly groaned. 'At least I get to explore this village a bit more, now. And who knows, maybe I'll find some nice clouds outside' he resolved.

* * *

In the reception area, while Yuuto chatted with the receptionist, Shikamaru felt two chakra signatures nearby, before two people dressed in Akatsuki robes walked in and spotted the Nara.

"Well lookie here, Souta" one of them announced, removing their hood and brushing a cascade of thick black hair behind her. "This must be the new guy" she deduced. Walking closer, the woman looked him up and down, before looking him in the eyes, brown met green - Shikamaru took note of a few faint scars adorning the side of her face - and then the woman cursed, her voice softer than expected "damnit, you're taller than me too."

By now, the second member had removed his hood, running a hand through his short shaggy brown hair and laughing. "That's because you're so small" he mocked, laughing again when the woman tossed a kunai at him and embedded itself into the wall. "Easy now" the man chuckled, you remember how much the boss charges for repairing stuff in the village" he warned.

"Then stop being so annoying" the woman growled, idly scratching her rump. Offering Shikamaru her hand afterwards, she introduced herself. "The name's Mami Shinobu, nice to meet you."

Eying the hand with disdain, Shikamaru grudgingly shook Mami's hand. "Shikamaru Nara, likewise" then he offered to shake the other man's hand.

"Souta Ju" he offered, shaking Shikamaru's hand in a death grip and smiling. "I can already tell that we'll get along just fine."

"Yeah, I hope we do" the Nara sighed, massaging his now sore hand, thinking 'I already hate these troublesome people.' "Well, it was nice meeting the two of you, but I must be goi-" he dodged a punch from Souta, the man still grinning as if nothing happened. Shikamaru backed away, moving to draw a kunai and an explosive note.

"Impressive" the man praised, cracking his knuckles. "How about we spar for a bit, eh?" The room had gone silent, as Yuuto, Kimiko the receptionist and a few pedestrians abruptly stopped talking, watching the two to see what would happen.

Before Shikamaru could respond, Mami had already taken action, soaring into Souta's back with both of her feet and sending the man sprawling to the ground. "You idiot, you can't use any of your jutsu in this place, or the boss man will have both of our heads!" she screeched.

Moving back to his feet, the man growled "fine, we can spar in the sparring floor, then." Looking towards Shikamaru, he nudged his head in the direction of the elevator "let's go" he commanded.

"No thanks" the Nara replied. "I'm not a big fan of fighting, plus I've got some more important things to do" he shrugged. Walking past the man and his partner, he called "let's go, Yuuto" without turning around, and walked out the door.

The attention now on the ambassador/spy, Yuuto chuckled weakly and jogged towards the door, placing his hood over his head as he left.

"Heh, you aren't even worth the guy's time" Mami chuckled, elbowing Souta in the ribs. "I'm sure Kisame'll be fine with beating your ass when he returns later on" she added. "But for now, let's go hand in the mission report and be done with it" she suggested.

"Fine" Souta grumbled, crossing his arms and stalking towards the elevator.

"Big baby" Mami giggled, moving to converse with the shaken receptionist.

* * *

"That was annoying" Shikamaru grumbled from beneath the hood of his robe.

"You handled it pretty well, though" Yuuto offered. "Lord Souta is just…. volatile, I suppose."

"Volatile?" Shikamaru scoffed. "The man attacked me out of the blue! I'm surprised that partner of his stopped the thing, instead of jump in to fight too" he ranted.

"Lady Mami is just as…. excitable as her partner, but the two of them do tend to calm each other down, for some reason or other" Yuuto explained. "They are often sent on bodyguard and assassination missions" he added. "Although…. all of the Akatsuki go on those kinds of missions. Not many members are very, diplomatic" he mused. "You're one of the few, Shikamaru."

"Just great" the Nara sighed, "I'll probably be set up with some crazy…. Or I'll be the only one that can do diplomacy missions, meaning I'll never get to take a break" he groaned. "How troublesome" looking towards the sky, he grumbled "and I forgot this place is either covered with one huge raincloud, or entirely cloudless" he sighed, allowing the rain to pelt his face for a few moments.

"Cheer up, man!" Yuuto advised, "we're here" he cheered, gesturing to the one story building in front of them, much smaller than the tower the Akatsuki members were staying in.

"Annette's" Shikamaru said, reading the sign above the entrance, a steel door with a sliding visor for a peephole. "Do I need to know a password, too?" Shikamaru asked, only half joking.

"Don't worry about that, I already have it" Yuuto assured him, knocking on the door three times.

Shikamaru wasn't surprised when the visor slid away, revealing a pair of light brown eyes that scrutinized Yuuto and then settled on Shikamaru, instantly narrowing.

"He's with me, Annette. Shikamaru is cool" Yuuto grinned.

'You've got to be kidding me' Shikamaru sighed.

"Password" a gruff female voice demanded. Shikamaru assumed it came from Annette, the owner of the brown eyes, still glaring at him from behind the door.

"Ah, yes, it was…." Yuuto paused "damn" he began scratching the back of his head.

"Shikamaru groaned, palming his face and shaking his head. Annette did the same.

"I got it!" Yuuto announced, clapping his hands once. "It's, Cait Sith" he replied.

"Last week's password, sorry" the woman grunted, sliding the visor closed.

Silence.

The sound of locks being undone could be heard from the other side, then the door abruptly swung open, a middle aged woman stood in the doorway, dressed in blue jeans, a black long sleeved shirt and a dark green apron stood in the entrance, hands on her hips and a cigarette dangling from her lips as she grinned. "Just kidding" she said, "now come on in" she commanded, gesturing for the two to enter. Closing and locking the door behind them as they entered, she walked past them, low-cut blonde hair swaying as she turned to fix them with another stare, she asked "now, how may I help you?"

Looking around, all Shikamaru saw were racks of umbrellas, water guns, hats, cloaks and other materials that made use of the nearly constant rain. "This is where you bought stuff for your apartment?" he asked Yuuto.

"Ah, you want furniture and such?" Annette asked, leading Shikamaru to a corner of the room and pulling open a trapdoor from the floor and climbing down. Shikamaru merely stared down, skeptic, until a light clicked on at the bottom and Annette looked up "aren't you going to come down and browse what I've got?"

"…. How troublesome" Shikamaru sighed, and climbed down.

* * *

"Alright, I'll have your orders delivered within the week" Annette informed the Nara. "You're quite the frugal shopper" she remarked.

"I only take what I need" Shikamaru answered.

"I noticed" she laughed. "Are you all set, then?"

"Yeah, I'm just wondering where Yuuto went."

"He's probably down in the bar section" Annette guessed.

Shikamaru stared.

"What?"

"You have a bar in this place too?"

"I provide multiple services" she shrugged.

"Is that so?" Shikamaru drawled. "Let's look at this bar, then."

"Right this way" Annette agreed, leading him out of that room and towards another trapdoor in a different corner of the aboveground floor. Inside, dozens of people were sitting down at tables or a counter where an orange haired young woman took orders and handed them to waitresses to give to their patrons.

"Tanya seems to be doing a good job, as usual" Annette nodded, pleased.

"How'd you manage to mask all of their chakra signatures?" Shikamaru asked. "Even if they don't use it, every living thing has a signature, I should've noticed them."

"I've dealt with ninja before" Annette shrugged. "As far as sensor types go, a bit of flooring insulated with some chakra suppressing stone takes care of any trouble they'd bring" she explained.

"That costs quite a bit" Shikamaru noted.

"My customers deserve quality."

"I'm surprised you're telling me all of this."

"For whatever reason, I trust you. Don't screw it up" Annette suggested, walking towards the counter and relieving the orange haired girl.

As Shikamaru watched this happen, a reasonably inebriated Yuuto greeted him.

"Hey, Shika!" he slurred, staggering towards the Nara, a nondescript bottle of alcohol in one hand. "You wouldn't mind opening a tab, right?" he asked.

"That depends" Shikamaru warily replied. "Why would I need a tab?"

Yuuto shivered, "mine's full, and Tanya is really scary when you can't pay" he answered, the fear sobering him up long enough to say this much.

At this, the woman in question came bounding towards them, all smiles. "Hello there!" she chirped at Shikamaru, then scowled at Yuuto, who tried to appear inconspicuous "you better have the money by tonight, Yuuto!" she demanded.

Shikamaru sighed, as the drunken man cowered behind him. "How much does he owe, exactly?"

"Four hundred and seventy two thousand, three hundred and twelve, ryo" the woman recited. "While I'm surprised Annette let one of you Akatsuki types in, I do know that you're paid relatively well" she thought aloud. "However, most of you usually end up dying, so I won't allow you to open up a tab until you've lasted for at least four months or get permission from the ma'am" she declared. "Do you plan on paying his debt?" she asked.

"Don't you get paid for the work you do?" Shikamaru hissed to the man behind him.

"I had bills to pay and I forgot how much was on my tab while I was a hostage" he whined.

"How do you forget a number like-" he looked to Tanya.

"Four hundred and seventy two thousand, three hundred and twelve-" she supplied.

"Ryo?" Shikamaru sighed.

"Captivity does things to you" Yuuto sobbed.

Shikamaru rubbed his temples, muttering "troublesome."

"So" Tanya clapped once, alternating between smiling at Shikamaru and glaring at Yuuto. "Who will be covering this tab?"

"I can pay the three hundred and twelve ryo" Yuuto offered, holding up a few coins and some bills.

In an instant, the orange haired woman had snatched the money away, counting it up and nodding as she came to the conclusion that it was, in fact, three hundred and twelve ryo. "I guess it'll have to do" she huffed. "But don't think you're off the hook, with this meager payment" she warned him. "Come again!" she smiled at the annoyed Nara, before walking back towards the counter, to speak with Annette.

"If you had money, why didn't you offer it up in the first place?" Shikamaru asked, turning to Yuuto, who took a sip from his bottle.

"That was supposed to pay for my dinner" Yuuto wistfully sighed.

"How broke are you?" Shikamaru -against his better judgment- asked.

"I'd rather not say" the man sighed.

'This could explain why he was drinking in the first place' Shikamaru reasoned, dropping the subject. "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind a tour of more of the village" Shikamaru told him. "And, we could get a bite to eat, afterwards."

"Well aren't you in luck!" Yuuto declared, cheerful once more. "I'm a wonderful tour guide. I know this place like the back of my hand!" he boasted, excitedly waving his hand in front of Shikamaru in emphasis.

'Well, he bounced back' Shikamaru noted. "But, I don't think I should let an alcoholic show me around" he replied, giving a pointed look at Yuuto's drink.

"Who, me?" the Yuuto asked, tossing the bottle away and pointedly ignoring Tanya's glare as the bottle shattered. "I don't know what you're talking about!" he laughed, walking -only a little- unsteadily towards the exit. "First stop, the residential district, which is also -surprise, surprise-, where I live!" he proclaimed.

'Meh, I suppose I owe it to the guy' Shikamaru decided, following after his guide.

* * *

Honestly, I hadn't planned on making this a pseudo crossover, to those of you that have read/watched "Black Cat."

I don't know if I should appologize, or say "you're welcome."

Let's go with both?

And... Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Black Cat either, obviously.


	7. God's Fingers

A/N: I'm back!... Kind of.

My apologies to all of you reading, for the massive delay.

I blame procrastination and college... woo.

Here's a short chapter of me attempting to get back into the groove of things. (Excuses)

* * *

The following morning, Shikamaru was awoken by the sound of knocking on his door. Hoping for a few more hours of sleep, the Nara chose to remain silent, expecting this early visitor to assume he was still sleeping.

"I know you're awake, kid" Kisame's voice called from the other side of the door. "I'm perfectly fine with breaking down this door, if it doesn't get opened soon" he warned.

Cursing, Shikamaru slowly left the comfort of his newly acquired sheets and trudged towards the door.

"Well, I warned him-" Kisame shrugged to himself, grabbing the blade strapped to his back. Fortunately -or perhaps unfortunately, in Kisame's case- Shikamaru opened the door.

"What do you want?" Shikamaru sighed, clad in a pair of dark blue pajama pants -something from Annette's shop- and a t-shirt.

"It's time to meet the rest of Akatsuki" Kisame answered. "Get dressed and head to the seventh floor. You've got five minutes."

"Can't I get breakfast first?" the Nara drawled.

Kisame chuckled, "I don't think it'd be a good idea to keep these guys waiting" he advised. "And if you keep me waiting…." he trailed off, flashing a shark-like grin down at the teen, flashing a bit of murderous intent and chakra towards him as well for good measure.

His hand tightening on the doorknob, Shikamaru could now say that he was wide awake and extremely annoyed. "I'll be there shortly" he grit out, closing the door as calmly as he could in the face of being threatened.

Kisame merely chuckled again, before he turned and walked off.

After throwing on a pair of clothes and putting his Akatsuki robe on over them, Shikamaru sauntered towards the elevator, more than a little irritated at being threatened so early in the day. Waiting for the elevator to arrive and fidgeting with his half of the Kiba, his scowl deepened.

By the time Shikamaru stepped onto the elevator, he had placed his hood over his head in order to somewhat conceal his glowering face.

As his destination drew closer to the bottom floor, Shikamaru became aware of nine powerful surges in chakra. 'It looks like they're all showing off, today' Shikamaru mused, flaring his own -comparatively smaller- chakra in response as he schooled his features back into a state of mild annoyance, beneath his hood.

The elevator dinged, signaling his arrival on the seventh floor. With that, Shikamaru strode towards the center of the room, where the large grotesque statue lay. Oddly enough, the large stone statues of a left and right hand, on either side of it, were now open, palms up and fingers curled towards the sky. Perched upon the tip of each finger- excluding the center finger of the left hand statue-, a member of Akatsuki stood with their hood drawn over their head.

Atop the thumb of the left hand, Madara's voice boomed from behind his distinct orange mask. "Step between the hands of god, so that you may be judged" he commanded.

Taking this as his cue, Shikamaru strode into the center of the room, facing the statue and attempting to ignore the various chakra signatures swirling about him, some so overbearing that he could swear they were tangible. 'I'm surrounded by monsters' the Nara told himself. 'Is this how it feels, to be the sheep in wolves' clothing?' he mused.

"Someone else from Konoha?" a man enquired, surprised. "It has been a while, since I've spoken to a leaf shinobi without being attacked on sight" he chuckled.

'Someone else?' Shikamaru repeated. 'Does that mean he's a missing Nin from the leaf as well?'

"This scrawny guy is the new addition?" one of the figures asked.

"He gets things done" Kisame's voice retorted.

"He's decent, yeah" Deidara's figure agreed.

"I don't care, really" Mami's own voice offered.

"He's got a few skills, I think" Souta included.

"Well, if Deidara doesn't hate the guy…." An unfamiliar feminine voice began.

"Hey, what makes you think that, yeah!"

"What's your take on him, boss?" another unknown voice asked.

At this, all other conversation ceased, waiting to hear their leader's verdict.

"His true strength is not in his raw power-" he started.

"You can say that again" Kisame snorted.

"However, his mind makes him both a formidable enemy, as well as a valuable ally" he suggested.

"Well, I guess that settles it then" Kisame decided.

"All those in opposition, speak now" Madara commanded.

"Let's just hope he lasts longer than the usual newbies" one of the figures groaned. "Even with Hidan and Kakuzu gone, we've still been losing members almost weekly."

"Oh, about that" Kisame chuckled. "This guy killed Hidan, you know. And he helped take down Kakuzu" he declared.

"Oh, really?" Souta asked, interest evident in his voice. "We really do need to have that spar, now."

"That is quite an interesting feat" one praised.

"I didn't think it was possible for those zombie freaks to actually die" another figure mused.

"Let me assure you, they are both, 'dead' in almost every sense of the word" Shikamaru offered. "Now, am I in or not?" he asked, yawning just because.

"Don't go around acting all cocky now, yeah" Deidara grumbled from behind his hood.

"Such disrespect" one of the female voices sighed.

"If you children are done" Madara paused to allow the others to quiet down. "I do believe it's time to formally greet your comrade.

"Finally" one of the figures sighed, removing their hood long with the others. Shikamaru could only stare at the odd sight before him. 'Why are there no normal people in Akatsuki?' he thought.

"Yo, the name's Zetsu" the strange man greeted, leaping in front of Shikamaru.

"Nice to meet you, I guess" Shikamaru shrugged.

"You're not very talkative, huh?" Zetsu observed.

"I'm talking to a plant, I think" the Nara complained. "Excuse me for having a bit of trouble engaging in conversation" he snapped.

"Hey, hey, calm down" the multicolored man soothed. "I'll start…. uhm" he stiffened for a moment. "I was impressed with how you completely annihilated Hidan" he offered, his voice seeming to be more abrasive, now. "I couldn't even get to his body, not that it would've tasted any good after what you did to him" he snickered.

"You were able to make it in and out of the forest?" Shikamaru asked, skeptical.

"You don't believe me?" Zetsu chuckled. "What can I say to conv-" he stiffened again. His voice soft once more, he spoke "Would you believe me if I recalled how you trapped Hidan in a blanket of explosive tabs, spouted off a bit of your plan, to enlighten him, opened a pit trap underneath him and then blew him to bits, before collapsing the thing onto his still living remains and-"

"Alright, I get it" Shikamaru interrupted. "How did you navigate through there?"

"Easy" the abrasive voice began. "I took one of your clansmen hostage and had her guide me around the place, then killed her when the tour ended" he finished.

"The only thing stopping me from killing you" Shikamaru seethed, his eyes hardening, "is the fact that I can tell you're bluffing.

"So you do get angry" he shrugged, stiffening for a moment. "I'm sorry, pay no attention to my other half" Zetsu apologized. "He enjoys pushing other people's buttons, you see" he explained.

Shikamaru frowned. "Dual personalities?"

"You could say that" the polite Zetsu agreed.

"I don't care" Shikamaru shrugged. "Are you going to tell me how you made it in and out of my clan's forest with all of your limbs intact?"

"The forest spoke to me" Zetsu offered. Seeing Shikamaru's confused look, he added. "I'm also a sensor ninja, in a sense. Only, I'm attuned to the rings that all Akatsuki members wear. You'll be receiving one soon, I'm sure" he continued, raising his right hand to show the green ring on his little finger.

"Those rings are tracking devices, then?" Shikamaru asked, indicating the ring. "I saw one of those on Hidan, too" he noted.

"That's right" Zetsu confirmed, going still.

'Oh no' Shikamaru inwardly groaned.

"You also need one to do the beast extracting or have one of our disciples assume your form, at the price of having to use their usually less developed chakra stores, depending on who you possess" the less formal Zetsu personality informed him. "Plus, it stores and amplifies chakra, to use later when your ass is in a pinch…. ask the boss for more details."

"I've never even heard of something like that existing" Shikamaru replied.

"I know, it's cool" Zetsu boasted. "But, then again, only crappy ninja would need to use a cheap gimmick like this" he chuckled, pointedly looking at Shikamaru.

"If that's the case, why are these made exclusively for Akatsuki?"

"They aren't only for Akatsuki" Zetsu shrugged. "None of the other countries did any advanced research into chakra storage, is all. In a few more years, the land of Iron may figure out how to make these, too."

"That's enough, Zetsu" Madara commanded, walking towards the two of them. "There's no need for you to spout all of our secrets at once" he chided.

"Ah, s-sorry boss" Zetsu stuttered, bowing. "I will now take my leave" he announced, walking away.

"I have a mission for you, so stop by at noon, Zetsu" Madara ordered.

"I understand" Zetsu nodded and left.

"You can get individual introductions over with on your own time, now" he told Shikamaru. Reaching into the folds of his robes, he produced a ring similar to Zetsu's, but a darker green in color.

Taking the ring from Madara, Shikamaru inspected it more closely, finding an engraving on its face. "North?" he asked, confused by the kanji.

"As your predecessor, Kakuzu did, you will guide us as the North Star guides wayward travelers toward salvation" he recited.

"Well, financially, at least" Kisame offered from his perch.

At this point, Shikamaru became aware of the fact that none of the other members had ever left their odd finger shaped pedestals, giving them plenty of space to casually observe his conversation with Zetsu.

Sighing, Shikamaru placed the ring on his finger, to find that it didn't fit.

"Left middle finger" Madara intoned.

Placing the ring on the suggested finger, it fit perfectly. Almost instantly, the cool metal of the ring seemed to seep into Shikamaru, penetrating into his very soul and leaving him breathless.

"How much chakra is this thing going to take?" Shikamaru gasped at the figure before him.

"The sealing of a tailed beast is extremely strenuous" Madara chuckled. "The ring will take as much chakra as it can, without killing, until it has been filled" he answered.

"Heh, I barely felt anything when I got my ring" Kisame bragged.

"You're so used to having your chakra absorbed by that freaky sword all the time, your body doesn't even register stuff like that anymore!" Mami groused.

Completely ignoring the outburst, Kisame gestured to the vacant perch beside him, which happened to between himself and Mami "looks like you get to take the seat of honor next to me and the banshee" he joked.

"What'd you call me?!" Mami shrieked, full of righteous indignation. "I'll kick my foot so far up your a-"

"Quiet" Madara interrupted, silencing the entire room once more before he turned back to Shikamaru. "As Kisame has already said, you will take your place upon the middle finger of the left hand statue." He looked up once more "that will be all, the rest of you are dismissed" he commanded.

At this, the other members leapt off of their perches, heading towards the sole elevator, complaining "this is why we never let Zetsu do anything first, he always ruins it" as others agreed.

"He probably pressed all of the buttons on the elevator, too" Mami sighed, rubbing her temples.

All of the members put their heads down and sighed, waiting for the elevator.

"Come, I'll teach you the hand-seals required for the sealing method" Madara ordered Shikamaru, ignoring the plight of the remaining seven members.

* * *

For the umpteenth time this month, the fourth Hokage sighed in frustration at the dinner table. Naruto, half dead -he wasn't a morning person- and used to this, paid him no mind and continued to blankly stare at his cereal.

Kakashi -who saw it necessary to visit whenever his own apartment had no food in stock- on the other hand, quirked an eyebrow and asked his former sensei "what's eating you?"

Minato sighed once more and shuffled a few of the papers in front of him before turning to Kakashi. "I'm just going over Shikamaru's workload" he replied.

Hearing his wayward comrade's name, Naruto perked up a bit, replying "Shikamaru couldn't have had that much of a workload, right?" he half-joked.

"He pretty much was the diplomat for all Suna related…. everything" Minato began, ticking off a finger "almost all of his missions were A-Ranked" another finger, "most of those missions were either infiltration or other…. diplomatic, things" he held up three fingers. "On top of that, I can't just assign one Ninja to pick up the slack, because of how unique Shikamaru's style happened to be and the shortage of Ninja I can spare, given the recent attacks on the village" he added two more fingers.

Kakashi whistled as Naruto appeared dumbstruck.

"What exactly does Shikamaru do?" the blonde asked his father.

"That's classified."

Kakashi chuckled at his student's pouting face.

Scratching his head, Minato offered "think of it like this, Naruto. What type of ninja is Shikamaru?"

"Well…" Naruto thought for a moment, "he's not as strong as the rest of the gang, he's a sensor, he did say that he considers himself to be more of a support kinda guy…." he paused. "He's also really damn stealthy, not to mention scary when you give him a pair of bombs and a plan" he nodded his head at the list he'd created.

"Given all of this, what would you advise, if someone came into contact with him?" Minato prompted.

"Don't fight him if he's had time to think over the battle and definitely don't follow him into unknown territory" Naruto answered without hesitation. "If you run into him while he's unaware though…." Naruto trailed off "Actually, I've never actually surprised Shikamaru" he realized.

"In other words" Kakashi interjected "Having Shikamaru gone, is similar to losing a trap expert, a strategist, a sensor and-"

"A Nara that's mastered their craft" the Hokage added.

"It doesn't matter" Naruto yawned. "We'll bring him back, regardless" he smiled. "Besides, me and Gaara are bros" he declared, "so I can take over for Shikamaru as far with all of the diplomatic stuff in Suna" he offered.

"I don't think that's the best idea, son" Minato advised. "All you have to worry about today is your mission" he grinned.

"I get a mission!?" the hyperactive blonde whooped.

"Yep" Minato agreed, grinning "a nice B-rank guard mission."

"B-rank?" Naruto deflated. "Well" he shrugged, searching for a silver lining "I'm sure there'll be plenty of action on the mission" he attempted to console himself.

"I'm sure you'll run into plenty of…. bandits? Along the way" Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto groaned "where am I going" he sighed. "On second thought, what am I guarding?"

* * *

"Seeing as your ring won't have enough chakra for the sealing for another week or two at the least, now would be as good a time as any to acquaint yourself with your comrades" Madara suggested to Shikamaru after going over the necessary hand-seals.

"I'm sure I'll get to know all of them, eventually" the Nara replied lackadaisically.

At this Madara simply replied "do as you like" before waving him off.

Deciding that he'd rather get to know his new comrades later, or at least as little as possible, said "I'm thinking about going to relax in the Land of Stone for a few days, if that's alright with you?" he drawled.

"The bounty that I'm positive you collected for killing your mark should cover at least two months' worth of your quota" he mused. "However, there is something that I need done, in the Land of Stone" he told the Nara.

Shikamaru sighed, 'I can't even get out of work, here' he groaned to himself. "What can I do to help?" he asked.

"A recent employer has tasked us with destroying a caravan headed there" Madara began.

Seeing where this was going, Shikamaru asked "and I assume it will be escorted by a group of Konoha ninja, as defense?" he grit out.

"Most likely" Madara agreed. "I don't care if any of the opposing ninja die or not, that is up to you" he replied off-hand. "But" his voice grew cold, "their shipment must be completely destroyed, understood?"

"Yes…. Tobi."

Hearing his alias being used, Madara lightened up considerably. "Good, Kisame will accompany you when you are ready to leave. The caravan is slated to arrive at its destination within a month or less" he recited. "Inform Kisame of the situation, if you will" he ordered.

"If I may…." Shikamaru trailed off.

"What is it?"

"What's in the caravan?" the Nara asked.

Madara chuckled darkly. "If you really want to know…."

* * *

A/N: And this is why I don't do cliffhangers... I think.

I'll "attempt" to update monthly, as I used to, but no promises.

Anywho, tell me how you feel or felt about the chapter, if you don't mind.

I'd appreciate all of the feedback I can get & maybe I'll become even more involved with the audience... unless you don't want that.

Review! Maybe, please? I don't care... much.


	8. Meeting

"Does your dad hate us?" Kiba asked Naruto, the third day into their escort mission.

"Shut up, Kiba" Naruto grumbled, thinking along the same lines. He would rather be training right now!

Sakura and Hinata couldn't help but silently agree with Kiba's question.

"Did you pull one your pranks or something?" Kiba pestered, wanting to know why someone of his caliber was stuck on a mission like this, he was too cool for this, after all.

"I'm sure the Hokage picked all of us for this mission because each of our skills can work in conjunction with the others'" Sakura sighed, rubbing her temples.

"And i-it also helps that we've been on Genin teams together" Hinata added.

"Yeah, what they said" Naruto agreed, going back to ignoring the Inuzuka.

"Hey!" the wolf boy growled, angry at being brushed off as well as ganged up upon.

"Eh?" Naruto looked up, deep disinterest etched onto his face as he looked around, completely disregarding Kiba. "Did you guys hear something?" he asked, mocking the Inuzuka.

Kiba charged at the blonde, tackling him and launching them both into the forest to wrestle their frustrations away, leaving Akamaru to keep the uneasy -and ignored- caravan driver, company.

Both kunoichi merely sighed and continued on with their conversation.

"How do you think we should get to the Land of Stone, anyway, Hinata?" Sakura enquired.

"Well, it would be safest to go through wind country" the Hyuuga stated. "But" she peered at Naruto and Kiba tussling off the side of the road "there's the issue of knowing that there was at least one Akatsuki base in the land of waves" she sighed.

"It'll be fine" Sakura assured the girl. "We destroyed that place so good, I doubt they'll be able to salvage anything out of that."

"But there could always be more, elsewhere" Hinata stressed.

"This is true" Sakura allowed "but we'll be in and out of River country before anyone even knew we were there" she assured the girl. "And besides" she grinned, popping her knuckles menacingly "if we run into any Akatsuki, we'll just beat their asses and make them tell us where that lazy bum is."

Hearing this, Hinata grinned maliciously as well. "When you look at it that way…."

Both girls chuckled together.

* * *

In Ame, Shikamaru shivered despite the warmth his cloak provided. "Troublesome" he muttered to himself, walking alongside his traveling companion.

"What's up with you?" Kisame barked, annoyed with having to babysit the newbie. No matter how much he denied it, the legendary swordsman was just so damn good with kids for some reason.

"Nothing, it's nothing" Shikamaru replied as they left the never-ending rains of Amegakure. "Just a bad feeling, is all" he replied, eying the large bandaged sword strapped to his back.

"Something interest you, kid?" Kisame enquired, catching the Nara's glances.

"Well" he fidgeted with the blade strapped to his side and then sighed, remembering his one-sided encounter with Kurotsuchi. "Could you teach me how to use this thing?"

Kisame laughed as they walked away from the village. After his chuckles died down, he looked towards the Nara and saw the half-hearted determination on his face. "Oh, you were serious?" he noted, then burst into laughter once more.

"…. Troublesome" Shikamaru muttered. "I could pay for the months you take off to train me" he offered, regret laced all throughout his voice.

At this, Kisame stopped laughing and thought for a moment. He eyed the Nara, skeptical until he pulled a suitcase out from a scroll and showed him all of the money in it.

"Well, I guess we could call it tutor's fees" Kisame sighed, reluctantly agreeing to the proposal.

'Well, that went by easier than I'd expected it to' Shikamaru thought, wiping the proverbial sweat from his brow. Resealing his suitcase within a scroll, he asked "when can we start?"

"Now!" Kisame roared, shark like grin in place, as he lunged at the boy, unsheathing his enormous blade in one fluid motion.

Expecting this, Shikamaru managed to avoid the attack by body flickering backwards a few meters.

Only to sense Kisame already behind him, breathing down his neck. "Impressive, but swordsmen have their own variation of that, called a flash step" he informed the Nara. "And in my opinion, it's much more effective" he whispered, enjoying the shivers that ran down the boy's spine.

"So, test over?" Shikamaru ventured, attempting to recompose himself.

"Of course not" Kisame answered. "Now draw your blade" he ordered. "I might as well see what you're capable of with my own eyes" he grinned, lunging towards Shikamaru once more.

Four minutes later saw Shikamaru sprawled on the floor in a clearing near the village, panting and bruised with his half of the Kiba embedded into the dirt a foot or two away. Toppled and charred trees led the way from the entrance of the lush rainforest to said clearing.

In the center of the clearing stood Kisame, leaning on his sword and breathing as normally as ever, with a look of contemplation on his face. After a moment or two, he spoke.

"I don't think I've ever fought someone with such a crappy amount of chakra" he began. "You're stamina is also shit" he began ticking points off on his fingers. "I doubt you even know what iaijutsu is", he continued. "The Kiba must be crying or screaming to itself" he noted, "it hasn't even sealed itself, yet."

"So…. I suck?" Shikamaru gasped out, in between breaths.

"I'm not done yet" Kisame snapped. "On the other hand, you've got some pretty nice intuition, being able to anticipate a person's moves the way you do" he praised. "Now if only your actual reflexes and actual physical abilities could keep up" he added. "Obviously, you aren't a close range fighter, if all of those bomb traps you kept setting off are any sort of indication. Well done, by the way, I had fun" he chuckled. "And, you even know how to use the basic abilities of the Kiba, which is a plus" the swordsman noted. "Unfortunately, you probably use chakra augmenting things all the time, what with the way you dipped into using the chakra in your cloak and even some of the ring, too" he admonished.

"I use all the tools at my disposal" Shikamaru defended from his position on the ground.

Kisame shrugged, "I didn't mean too much by it, but you're going to need to fix that most of all, even with all of the control you have, it won't mean anything if you're just going to run out when you get into a drawn out fight" he explained.

"This is why I either end a fight quickly or retreat in a solo battle" Shikamaru offered. "I usually act as support or backup, in a team, when a fight is expected."

"You are now a member of Akatsuki" Kisame stated. "Retreat is no longer an option, ever" he declared. "You will either complete the mission or die. If you run away" he grinned darkly "I will see to it that you meet your end, personally."

Shikamaru gulped.

"Now get up" the shark man ordered. "Our first order of business is going to be getting you to hear the Kiba as a living entity" he decided.

"Hear…. the sword?" Shikamaru parroted.

"Do you need a demonstration?" Kisame sighed.

"An explanation would help, too."

"The seven swords of the legendary swordsmen are…. special" Kisame began. "Each blade is, to an extent, sentient. Some more than others…."

At this, Shikamaru could've sworn that he saw Kisame's own sword squirm.

Eventually rising to his feet, with a bit of struggle, Shikamaru picked up his blade and inspected it. 'Semi-Sentient, huh?' he mused, 'this'll be interesting' he decided.

"What're you staring at?" Kisame huffed impatiently. "You can think about your glaring weaknesses along the way" he commanded. "Besides, it's time for you to think of what your little leafy friends -he chuckled at the word- would do to get to Stone" he reminded the Nara.

"Yeah, yeah, duty calls" Shikamaru sighed. "They'll probably head to Suna, first, since it's safer and all. Our best bet would probably be to intercept them in the Land of Rivers, or maybe even Stone itself" he concluded.

"Why wouldn't they just cut through Grass and Rain country?" Kisame asked. "Wouldn't it be faster?"

Shikamaru blankly stared at the man.

"What?"

"You do realize that Jaraiya and a bunch of our other ninja died searching in Rain country for the Akatsuki headquarters, right?"

"What of it?"

"…. Never mind" Shikamaru gave up. "Anyway, if we attack while they go through River country, they'll probably be on alert, because of the hideout discovered during the whole Gaara fiasco" he sighed.

"It's your job to find a way around that" Kisame shrugged. "Or it alright for me to go all out on-" he easily caught the lone kunai thrown at his face. "Temper, temper" the shark man chuckled. "What was this supposed to do?"

"There's an explosive note attached" was all Shikamaru offered, slowly trudging away.

"Heh" Kisame shrugged, examining the odd explosive note. "Don't get cocky, brat" he warned.

* * *

Nearing the border of the Land of Rivers, Hinata called the team to a halt.

"What's up, Hinata?" Naruto asked the Hyuuga.

"We're nearing River country" she announced. "Get into formation."

"Yeah, yeah" Sakura sighed, getting into position near the side of the caravan.

"Maybe we'll see some action!" Kiba cheered, walking to the front as Akamaru barked his consent.

"Here's to hoping!" Naruto agreed, covering the other side of the caravan.

'Please, let this go on without a hitch' Hinata thought to herself. "Stay alert!" she commanded, activating her Byakugan.

"Right!" they all chorused -impressing the caravan driver- before heading into contested territory.

Fourteen minutes in, Naruto struck up a conversation with the Caravan driver.

Twenty seven minutes in, Hinata spotted the first trap, a simple explosive tripwire.

Twelve seconds afterwards, she noticed the others, hidden underground, in the shadows, in foliage and connected to others, in an intricate web. She called the team to a halt, before they could trigger anything she may have missed.

"Hina-?" Kiba began, before the Hyuuga heiress quieted him.

A lone shuriken entered and exited the outer fringes of her Byakugan's range, to their rear.

A moment of pause.

Wires and cords of explosive notes suddenly slid into her view, effectively cutting off their escape before she could even contemplate it.

All in the span of ten seconds.

"Hinata?" Sakura called.

"We've just been trapped" she replied.

"What!" Naruto cried. "How, where, with what?" he asked.

"Explosives…. and a shuriken" she answered. "We're in a net of explosives, it seems" she grit out.

Sakura caught on, relatively quickly. "Isn't that something that Shik-" she cut herself off "oh."

* * *

"Well, that went much easier than I expected it to" Shikamaru sighed. "This is why I hate guard missions, there're so many opportunities for an ambush" he grumbled to himself.

Kisame looked on, mildly impressed. "Well, they've been caught" he stated. "What now? I doubt they'll just cry and give up the caravan if you oh so graciously offer to spare their lives" he guessed.

"You just leave that to me" he huffed.

Just don't go making any stupid mistakes" Kisame grinned. "Or, I just might have to take matters into my own hands" he warned.

"Perish the thought" Shikamaru replied, creating a Shadow clone.

* * *

"How do we get out of this?" Naruto mused, peering at their fragile explosive cage.

"Well, jumping out of the thing from overhead, is a no" Kiba offered, eying the links connecting above them.

"There are some buried underground, as well" Hinata added, searching around with her Byakugan.

"I don't think setting them off from a distance is a good idea either, given how close to us the chain reaction explosion would be" Sakura contemplated.

"Who's actually seen Shikamaru make this thing, before?" Kiba asked.

Sakura and Hinata raised their hands.

"During a mission" Hinata offered.

"Same" Sakura shrugged.

"I watched as he put the thing together" Sakura rubbed her temple. "I still have no idea how he actually crafted it and made it work, though."

"If we could get outside, somehow, then I could probably disarm it" Hinata sighed.

"Well…. Shikamaru'll probably show up sooner or later" Naruto shrugged. "I guess we just wait 'til then" he sat on the ground, cross legged.

Everyone stared.

Hinata's eyes caught a length of chakra laced shadow, slithering through the forest towards them and sighed.

"Well, he's here" she announced as the sliver of shadow slipped under the explosives and reformed -to the driver's dismay- on top of the caravan roof.

Sitting down with one leg dangling over the side and the other tucked underneath him, Shikamaru gave a single wave with the usual bored scowl etched onto his face.

"Yo" he greeted.

* * *

A.N. -Whoo, authors note at the bottom of the page this time!

As you can see, I'm not too good with semi-cliffhangers.

But, guess what...?

Since I felt this chapter was rather short -and rushed- you get another one!

Back to back chapters, whoo!

I need confetti... and Reviews!


	9. Musings

A.N. - Second Chapter!... That is all.

* * *

"Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed, leaping from his cross-legged position. "What are you doing, working with Akatsuki?" he demanded.

"I'll be asking the questions, Naruto" Shikamaru replied. "I forgot how loud you were" he added rubbing a finger in his ear. "Now, onto business" Shikamaru sighed, turning to Hinata. "I assume you're captain for this mission?" he asked.

Naruto squawked indignantly, "Hey! I'm not done talki-" Sakura smacked him atop the head.

"Shutup, idiot!" the pink-haired girl admonished, eying Shikamaru warily. "Shikamaru isn't here on a social visit" she reminded him.

"I assume you're here to intercept this caravan" Hinata stated.

"That's correct" Shikamaru allowed.

"And if that's the case, then you know we can't allow that" the heiress replied, getting into a ready stance.

The others followed suit as Shikamaru remained in his sitting position.

"Don't be like that" Shikamaru sighed, slowly standing to his feet. "As you can see, you're being held hostage at the moment" he motioned to the explosives. "I'm sure we can come to an agreement in a civil matter" he offered.

"We don't negotiate with terrorists" Hinata spat.

"Ah, so you've heard about what happened in Iwa, then?" Shikamaru sighed. "But, how is that any different than what I've done before, as a Konoha ninja?" he reasoned.

"Are you defending Akatsuki!?" Naruto roared. "Have you already forgotten about what they've done?"

"Of course not" Shikamaru instantly replied "I've already killed the ones responsible, remember?" "You've also killed, out of vengeance, Naruto" Shikamaru rebuffed. "Or have you forgotten, about stopping that cycle of hatred you detest so much?" he asked. "Were those simply pretty words, then?" the Nara asked, his tone having gone frigid.

"I meant everything I said" Naruto answered, looking Shikamaru directly in the eyes. "And you said that you'd follow me, to stop the cycle as well."

"And I am, in my own way" Shikamaru replied softly. "Now" turning back to Hinata, "What do you say to surrendering peacefully?" he asked, drawing the Kiba.

"If you surrender now, we will take you to Konoha, where you'll face a fair and safe trial" Hinata offered.

Shikamaru laughed. "You know that isn't what I meant" he chuckled. "But, I do think I know your answer" he sighed. "And so, before we begin, take this to heart" his voice lowered to a whisper. "Akatsuki is everywhere" he cryptically replied.

Hinata's eyes noticed the chakra build up inside of the clone and screamed "get back!" as a warning to the rest of her team. The caravan leader, frozen with fear the moment Shikamaru appeared, couldn't react in time.

And then the clone exploded atop the caravan.

* * *

Shikamaru stood from his perch atop a tree, processing the information he received from his clone.

Kisame -who began dozing a few minutes ago- perked up at hearing the explosion. He looked at Shikamaru quizzically. "Did you do that?" he asked.

"Yeah" he replied, stretching. "Mission accomplished, by the way" he added.

"I thought you were too soft to hurt your leafy friends" Kisame stated.

"They'll be fine" Shikamaru asserted. "I'd rather give them a few bruises, myself" he looked at Kisame "than have you jump in and do much worse damage than I ever could."

Kisame chuckled at this. "You flatter me" he joked.

"Right" Shikamaru deadpanned. "Well, the caravan and all of its cargo has been destroyed" the Nara sighed. "Can we head back, now?"

"Sure" Kisame shrugged. "I don't know why Madar-" he caught himself "ah, I mean Tobi, sent me to oversee such an easy mission" he grumbled.

'Probably because he figured that Naruto had a chance of being on this mission' Shikamaru inwardly groaned. 'Thank god I managed to sense his chakra and convince Kisame to let me handle this' he sighed. 'Why would the Hokage send Naruto, of all people, into possible -well, confirmed now, I suppose- Akatsuki territory?' he mused.

"Who cares?" Shikamaru shrugged. "Now I can get some more training in" he sighed, leaping away "how troublesome."

"Hey, no complaining!" Kisame admonished, leaping after Shikamaru. "Especially since you're the one that signed yourself up for this" he reminded the Nara.

* * *

The shock of the explosion had sent the entire group careening in different directions. Hinata, Kiba and Naruto painfully collided with trees. Sakura and Akamaru were sent soaring into the tangles of explosive wires.

'I guess this is it for me' Sakura thought, unable to alter her forced flight. 'Who'd think that I'd go down at the hands of a former comrade, though?' she reflected sadly.

She wasn't quite expecting to simply snap through a few of the wires and then painfully slide across the ground.

Sakura lay there for a moment, collecting her thoughts.

"The entire trap was a bluff" she muttered to herself, not even bothering to stand.

A few seconds later, Kiba and Akamaru located the girl, still muttering "it was all one big bluff" over and over again in a dark tone.

"Sakura?" Kiba hesitated. "Are you alright?"

Akamaru whined from behind the Inuzuka.

"I'm fine" Sakura sighed, finally getting up. She noticed the annoyed look on the Inuzuka's face "what's up?"

"The caravan" he grumbled.

"What about it?" Sakura groaned, already knowing the answer.

"The driver died and the cargo was reduced to ashes, for the most part" Hinata answered for Kiba leaping down from the treetops and next to the Inuzuka.

Naruto arrived a few moments later, equally annoyed.

"Well" Sakura sighed, not enjoying the mood. "Shikamaru pulled one over on us" she confirmed. "But, he did give us something to think on, right?"

"Akatsuki is everywhere" Naruto recited in a whisper. "What are we supposed to get from that!?" he groaned.

"Maybe he was just being even more of a dick?" Kiba offered. "That was probably a threat or something" he grumbled, crossing his arms.

"I just want to know" Hinata declared "if he would have really attacked us with the intent to kill."

"He expected us to not trust him, and played on what we knew of his tactics" Sakura guessed.

"Which is 'the liberal application of explosives to overcome most situations' I guess" Naruto offered, doing his best to imitate Shikamaru's voice. "Dad, will not be happy" he sighed.

The entire team heaved a collective sigh.

* * *

"I really don't get what you mean by 'listen to the Kiba' Kisame" Shikamaru sighed, staring at the blade in question as they .

"You'll understand eventually" Kisame replied off handedly. "It takes time, is all."

"What kind of time?" Shikamaru asked. "How long should I expect to need, in order to pass this first step?"

"Well…." Kisame thought for a moment. "It only took me a little under a month to get to know Samehada, here" he chuckled. "But, our relationship is a little different."

"How troublesome" Shikamaru sighed.

"Don't worry about it" Kisame chuckled. "We'll be going over kata and sparring all the time" he informed the Nara. "I'm sure you'll hear or feel something by then."

"Yeah, I'll be feeling all of my bruises" Shikamaru complained.

"You'll be getting your money's worth" Kisame replied, smirking. "And you won't be deemed a swordsman until I say you've passed my tests" he added.

"Tests, huh?" Shikamaru replied. "What'll the final exam be, then?'"

Kisame laughed. "You'll have to beat me-"

The Nara squawked indignantly.

"…. In a point based sparring match. Where I'll be handicapped and the like, too" the swords master finished.

"Oh" Shikamaru apologized, looking elsewhere.

"S'all good" Kisame allowed. "It'll take you at least a few years, just to score a point on me" he shrugged.

"So much money" Shikamaru groaned.

"I'll be living the easy life" Kisame agreed. "Think of it as extra practice, either hunting those bounties or doing my missions" he chortled.

* * *

"Reports, reports, oh how I hate reports" Hinata sighed, a day's walk away from Konoha.

"We'll help, too" Sakura volunteered.

"What is this 'we' you're talking about?" Kiba asked, glaring at the medic.

"What was that, Kiba?" Sakura asked, eying the Inuzuka darkly. "Did I hear you say, 'that's a great Idea Sakura, let's all pitch in' Kiba?"

Naruto, on the sidelines, shivered in fear alongside Akamaru.

"Yeah" Kiba squeaked, "that's exactly what I said" he agreed, cowed by the girl.

"Do you have anything to add, Naruto?" Sakura asked, turning towards the blonde.

"Oh o-of course not, Sakura" Naruto answered, vigorously shaking his head as well.

"Good" Sakura nodded her head, smiling sweetly all of a sudden. "We can just blame it all on Shikamaru anyway" she shrugged bringing things back to more pressing matters.

Shikamaru's quote, the reason why they were walking through the forest for days, rather than leaping through the forest for a few hours, instead.

"Akatsuki is everywhere" Naruto sighed. "We've been going over it for days!" he whined.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura growled. "Shikamaru has to have said that for a reason."

"He forgets that we don't all think the way he does" Hinata added. "Now I have another reason to-"

"Kick the lazy bum's ass?" Kiba interrupted.

Hinata nodded her agreement.

"First he decides to go rogue" Kiba ranted. "Then he joins up with Akatsuki of all people" he continued "and now he's ruining our missions while dropping vague phrases" he finished. "Maybe the guy really has left the team and now he's just screwing with us?" the Inuzuka ventured.

"No!" Naruto shouted. "He's helping us, somehow" the blonde argued. "He just doesn't trust us enough, for some reason" he sighed.

"Kiba does have a point, though" Sakura grudgingly admitted. "Shikamaru is most likely the one member that knows you the best" She pointed out. "So he has the best chance of getting close and capturing you" she reasoned.

"If Shikamaru wanted to catch me, why didn't he do it, then?"

"He didn't set a 'Naruto specific' trap?" Sakura shrugged. "He probably wasn't ordered to go after you!" she screeched. "Shikamaru hasn't hurt any of us, true" she sighed. "But if he has to choose between Konoha or Akatsuki…." she trailed off.

"We don't know which side he'll pick."

* * *

"A job well done, young Nara" Madara praised Shikamaru. "You completed the mission and managed to not injure any Konoha Shinobi."

"That's why I'm here" Shikamaru replied. "Ah, I have a request" he sighed.

"Go on."

Kisame tried his hardest to not completely guffaw, as Shikamaru informed Madara of his deal with the swordsman.

Mostly due to the novelty of the situation -and because it made him laugh a bit-, Madara agreed to assign Kisame as Shikamaru's partner for the time being.

"Ah, if this is going to be the case" Madara mused. "I had a job for you, Kisame, but" he then gave a pointed look to Shikamaru "are you fine with having the young Nara tag along?"

"Is it the kind of mission I usually get?" Kisame asked warily.

"Of course."

"Great!" the blue man cheered. "It'll be perfect for the kid's training" he grinned.

"Wonderful" Shikamaru sighed. "And we just got back, too" he mumbled.

"Well, if that's been settled" Madara looked to Kisame, "it seems that our puppet's successor, Ms. Terumi, has been eliminating a few of our subordinates" he mentioned off-hand.

"Oh, is that so?" Kisame replied, just as casually.

"That it is" Madara reaffirmed. "In fact, she's actually begun preparing to raid a hideout, according to one of my sources."

"That's just terrible" Kisame offered, an anticipatory gleam in his eyes.

Shikamaru grew annoyed at their banter.

"That's why I need you to go and…. assist, our subordinates before all is lost" he chuckled.

"We'll head out immediately, boss, Tobi" Kisame chuckled, mock saluting before heading out, a very annoyed Shikamaru trailing behind him.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Shikamaru sighed, glancing towards his partner as they rode the elevator to their living quarters.

"That was us being given a mission, obviously."

"You know what I'm talking about" the Nara ground out.

The elevator dinged. The doors opened.

"How about this" Kisame offered, remaining within the elevator "I'll listen to your complaints as we spar, eh?"

Shikamaru gave him a blank look, but remained inside as well.

"And, if you impress me" he grinned, showing shark-like teeth "I'll fill you in on a few things."

Shikamaru sighed, deeply, before answering "fine."

The elevator doors closed and continued towards the training area.

Ten minutes later, Shikamaru and Kisame stood in the center of an expansive training area -complete with padded walls and rubberized flooring-, wooden swords in hand as Kisame glossed over the rules.

"All you have to do is hit your opponent with the damn thing" he explained.

"No other weapons are allowed" Madara elaborated. "Jutsu are also forbidden, which is why Kisame chose this room specifically, I do believe" he mused.

Looking to Kisame, Shikamaru asked "why is he here, again?"

"Thought his little fancy eye could be of some help" the swordsman offered. "Plus, he's not too bad with a blade, himself."

"Fancy eye?" the Nara ventured.

"I assume you understand the functions of a sharingan, seeing as how you've lived in a village filled with them."

"Oh."

"What'll the rules be, ref?" Kisame called to Madara.

"Twenty points should be enough to warm yourselves up" Madara stated.

"Fine by me" Kisame agreed.

"Alright" Shikamaru sighed in assent.

"Begin!"

Kisame lunged as suddenly as a bolt of lightning, colliding with Shikamaru's weak parry.

The Nara was sent flying a few feet backwards, his arms already numbed from the impact, he groaned "how Troublesome" as Kisame appeared before him, bellowing

"Do I have to teach you how to parry, too?!" as he swung his wooden sword again, disarming Shikamaru while sending him to the ground..

"One point, Kisame" Madara announced.

"You…. need even more work than I thought" Kisame grumbled, ruffling his navy colored hair in frustration.

Madara silently nodded his head in agreement, walking towards the wooden sword Shikamaru had dropped. "Allow me to demonstrate a few of the basics, at least" he stated, kicking the sword into his hand. "Is that alright with you, Kisame?"

"A challenge is always fine by me" Kisame grinned. "You can go sit for a bit" he told the Nara.

Shikamaru complied immediately, moving to the spot Madara had vacated.

"Whenever you are ready" Madara called to the Nara.

Shikamaru sighed once more, before drawling "begin."

Both combatants converged upon each other, their wooden blades sliced through the air, only coming into contact with either empty space or the wood of the opposing blade.

A few seconds later, amidst the flurry of swinging blades and dull thuds of wood impacting wood, a feint was anticipated, a dodge was too obvious, which allowed a parry to be diverted.

Wood just barely grazed what lay beneath an Akatsuki cloak.

"Your point, Kisame" Madara conceded.

The gap Shikamaru was expected to breach, in order to become a passable swordsman -in Kisame's eyes, at least- was made clear, then.

'This could take a while' Shikamaru allowed, before calling "again!" for the two to resume their sparring demonstration.

Needless to say, when Shikamaru stepped back up to spar, he received many bruises and did not gain a single point on either Kisame or Madara.

"I'm still in training" he shrugged, yawning.

Madara chuckled, commenting to Kisame "have fun with your student" before nodding to the Nara, then leaving the training room.

"So, training over for the day?" Shikamaru assumed.

Kisame laughed. "Of course not" he replied. "Time for more kata" the new teacher commanded. "Maybe we'll work on some speed exercises too" he mused. "May as well teach you how to flash step as soon as possible" Kisame figured. "To the weights!" he announced.

Shikamaru groaned.


End file.
